A Kindling of Ash
by Jocelyjpr
Summary: Ash, having grown up an orphan within Pallet Town possesses a singular purpose in life: to prove he is worthy. Little does he know the consequences such a goal will have. AU, moderately realistic.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Harsh orange flames flickered, towering through the inky black night, reaching towards the heavens as if to declare anger at the futility of the fire's own existence. No matter how far the fire expanded, no matter how much it destroyed, the flames were ultimately dooming themselves to a slow demise.

Above the crackling sizzling forest, a grizzled man stooped, perched atop one of the few landmarks south of the unconquerable Viridian forest. There was nothing especially noteworthy of the upraised rock jetting from the earth, it wasn't particularly tall or steep. Nay, its value lay in it being one of the precious few land formations which stood out against the gargantuan expanse of the towering treeline from the sky. The League had long ago abandoned any hope of clearing out the Viridian Forest which expanded throughout the Palletian peninsula which was located south of Viridian City. As such the hill was primarily used to guide fliers to their destinations throughout Kanto. Not today, however.

The man's hair was a dark brown, his stubble was unkempt with flecks of grey sprinkled throughout. He had a rather large patch where hair was simply missing, leaving only blackened scalp in its place. His rather plain cotton shirt was riddled with red splotches and gashes exposing bare skin, yet the man did not seem perturbed with the state of himself- nor the blaze torching a path through the forest below, and the soot which coated the air.

His expression was stoic, the beginnings of wrinkles, smile lines, were revealed upon his face by the harsh orange light cast by the blaze across the skyline. There was no hint of a smile present, though. His eyes, on the other hand, gazed with a single-minded ferocity at a motionless, crumpled bundle mere feet in front of him. The bundle was obscured by the smoke which rose from below, but it was clear the man had already recognized what was hidden beneath.

"Delia…" came a hardly distinguishable croak, followed by a rasping cough The man, without turning his gaze from the bundle, spat at the ground a mix of soot, blood, and spit. The man's stoic expression slowly shattered, morphing into a crumpled, defeated expression. He had failed. In his haste to defeat _him _he had lost sight of what truly mattered. _Delia._

A trembling hand made its way to a leather belt housing several straps which secured a red and white device with a button in the middle. The man, his eyes still solely focused on the bundle in front of him, grasped one of the balls and managed to press the button in the center despite the trembles which racked throughout his entire body and the tears which cleared soot and blood in streaks from his face before dropping impotently to the ground.

The ball expanded, emitting a blinding flash of red energy for hardly a moment before a massive presence which had not been there moments before was introduced. Massive wing beats displaced soot-filled air as a predator unlike any other took to the skies. A Charizard.

This Charizard was not a regular Charizard, however- not that any such monster could truly be called regular in the first place. It stood twice the height of an average member of its species, and the scales were covered with deep gouges, faded scars, and fresh wounds.

The dragon took in a deep breath, seeming to savor the soot within the atmosphere, then glanced rather arrogantly towards the blaze which raged below him for a moment, before realizing where he was. The beast's demeanor changed instantly, and he landed with a resounding rumble upon the hilltop. The Charizard glanced at his trainer's stooped form aloofly, but receiving no reaction, he stamped his clawed foreleg into the ground rather petulantly. When he still received no response, the dragon grew concerned.

Cautious eyes peered through the smoke and examined his trainer, taking in the minor wounds which peppered his body. It was nothing the trainer had not suffered plenty of times before. The Charizard glanced around before realizing the object his trainer was so focused on, a small bundle lying in front of him. The Charizard's snout snaked towards the bundle laid out before his trainer, inhaling a familiar scent. He nudged his snout softly into the bundle, careful of the force which he possessed.

Receiving no reaction, he nudged again, and again, and again.

The Charizard's demeanor, from prideful and arrogant, to obedient and concerned, once again morphed- this time to pure unadulterated rage. The temperature around the Charizard seemed to rise instantly, the air wavered around his scales, the dragon let out a single, solitary sound of terrifying proportions which echoed across the countryside- a roar filled with loss and anger, announcing its loss for everyone and everything to hear.

His trainer's mate was gone.

"Charizard, we must leave, we do not have much time." The trainer spoke for the second time, his voice was clearer now, the only remnants of the tears which had plagued him moments before were trails down his cheek free of the soot which covered him from head to toe. What truly stood out was the eyes- his eyes were hollow and dead.

Charizard glanced towards his trainer morosely, the pride which was so oftentimes associated with the beast entirely vacant. The dragon seemed to pause and consider the order, before hesitantly acquiescing and hunching over giving the trainer access to the harness strapped around his back. Charizard were not meant to be harnessed, they were not meant to be ridden, they were predators and their dominance was unparalleled, their pride even more so. Even Lance, the newly appointed champion of Kanto's Charizard would not tolerate his trainer harnessing him. This Charizard, however, was an exception.

The trainer boarded quickly, his hands going through the motions, tightening straps, double checking buckles, before finally patting Charizard's neck to signal takeoff. As the Charizard's leg muscles bulged and he finally leaped into the sky seeming to defy physics, such a large beast managing to stay airborne. As the Charizard began to gain ground, another beast made itself known. This new sound, while loud, was much higher pitched, and inquisitive, perhaps even playful in nature, contrary to the rage imbued within the Charizard's prior roar. A much lighter shaded orange dragon zipped through the sky, nearly a blur, cradling a single figure against its body with the utmost care. It was none other than a Dragonite, illuminated by the orange-hued fire beneath.

This Dragonite was significantly smaller in both height and stature than the Charizard it hovered across from, but while the Charizard struggled to keep itself aloft with great flaps of its wings, the Dragonite floated nearly motionless within the air, her wings nearly invisible to the naked eye. Dragonite, while fast, were not known to be as agile and quick as the one in front of the Charizard appeared to be, in fact, their temperament was only slightly less aggressive than the average Charizard, but as seemed to be the norm, this Dragonite was not normal.

The Charizard let out a roar of instinctive rage upon spotting the dragon across from him. Flame flew towards the beautiful petite dragon, uncontrolled and rage-filled, the blue flames surged towards the Dragonite but almost instantaneously it was reflected against a transparent green barrier: protect.

The man which was cradled against the dragon's body was the opposite of the trainer across from him. While the trainer was stocky, the man was frail, draped in an oversized lab coat, while the trainer was young, the man across from him's hair was nearly completely white, with the rare brown hair gracing his head. With all these differences in mind, however, there was one thing which the man had which the trainer lacked: presence. The man seemed to simply glower at the Charizard and immediately expunge any thought the deep orange scaled Dragon had of further retaliation.

"Keep that brute under control, Red, what has gotten into him?" The voice, unmistakably from one of considerable age, was still strong and commanding.

Red, the trainer on the Charizard, opened his mouth to answer, but words failed to materialize.

"I heard there had been a massive blaze spotted over Viridian and I knew you and Delia were headed-"

"Don't you dare say her name, Oak!" Emotion seemed to surge in waves from the trainer as he slammed his fist against his thigh in overwhelming, impotent rage.

Oak, his hand fidgeting nervously against the white lab coat, immediately softened his expression, "What happened here, Red?"

Red turned towards Oak, but his eyes didn't focus upon him, they were directed towards the fire beyond, reflecting the blaze in perfect, glassy-eyed clarity, "Oak..." the trainer paused, "we are no better than fire, we consume everything in our path to survive, thus dooming ourselves to an inevitable fate."

"Red, stop this nonsense."

That temporary concern on Oak's part was enough for a slight gesture from Red to go unnoticed, and the Charizard burst into movement immediately, shooting a blue flame which crackled, immediately evaporating the moisture within the air around it, towards the dragon and the man who was cradled within the dragon's arms.

The Dragonite, caught by surprise and lacking time to summon a barrier, swiftly turned her back towards the flame, enveloping her trainer against the protective scales of her stomach as the flames rolled over her, damaging, but not coming close to disabling the nearly mythical dragon.

By the time the smoke had cleared, both the Charizard and trainer had vanished, and Oak stepped out onto the hill which Red had occupied moments before. Oak's eyes scanned the soot-filled sky to no avail. Doubtlessly it would be possible to track Red, but that boy was nothing if not stubborn. If he didn't wish to disclose what happened here, Oak would find out himself.

The first thing the Professor noticed was the bundle, the shape drawing his immediate attention and with a heavy heart, he knew what, or rather who lay there. It all made perfect sense, yet he prayed his intuition was wrong. With shaking arms Oak turned the petite bundle over revealing a pale, slender face, framed by curly brunette hair which even now seemed to reflect the firelight. Two pinpricks of red upon her neck were all that hinted towards her demise. Oak, ignoring the injury, gazed into her empty eyes which just hours earlier had viewed the world with an unparalleled vibrancy, a vicious intelligence, and an undeserving love- needless to say, they no longer did.

Oak's head dropped towards the ground, droplets of water slamming against the stone beneath. Delia, his protege, and wife to a man Oak considered his own son, was dead. Despite the blaze burning below, an unearthly silence seemed to descend upon the forlorn rock. Oak, lost in his thoughts did not notice, but the Dragonite standing behind him glanced around cautiously.

The silence continued, it was as if the sound had been removed from the earth, and even the buzz of pure silence seemed to be absent. Oak, finally removed from his stupor glanced around, confused for a moment, before standing and gripping one of the Pokeballs within his lab coat. Dragonite, not liking the odd feeling which staring at the massive blaze below her, yet not hearing it caused turned back towards her trainer.

As she did so a nearly indistinguishable blur of movement caught her eye, the Dragon turned towards it, as did her trainer, reacting to her movement, but it was gone, and the sound was back, the cackling of the thousands of burning trees below, the chirp of fleeing pidgey, an annoying high pitched whining-_ wait what_?

The Dragonite glanced towards her trainer, noticing the bundle was still lying motionless on the ground, but now in her friend's hand was a much smaller bundle, squirming around, and emanating disturbingly high pitched sounds which hurt the Dragon's sensitive ears.

"Look here, Saph, it is a miracle is it not?"

The Dragonite took one step lumbering step forward and looked from her height, a head or so above Oak, down at the scrunched up face that only human babies had and let out a trill of agreement. Oak a smile now on his face, although it did not reach the eyes, poked the baby in the nose, eliciting another set of whining much to his Dragonite's discontent.

A sudden frown crossed his face, and Oak was serious once again, glancing towards his Pokemon.

"Delia was not pregnant, was she?"

Many maternal Pokemon possessed the ability to simply smell if a woman, or another pokemon, was pregnant, and the female Dragonite was not an exception. The Dragonite shook her orange scaled head, responding to the negative, causing Oak to nod jerkily.

Delia had not been pregnant.

"Well, we aren't to question the bidding of the gods, hm?" Oak questioned, now humming to himself.

The moment of concern from Oak had passed, and a bittersweet smile was once again present on Oak's face.

The grizzled professor stood on the rocky outcropping, looking over the once brilliantly green-hued forest, which was now indecipherable amongst the inky clouds of black which rose from the deadly blazes. In that singular moment, what Red had said moments before resonated a morbid truth within Oak. Humans were no different than fire, consuming everything in their path and leaving only the remnants of their destruction behind.

"I think he shall be called Ash."

And thus it began.

* * *

A/N: As I hope is woefully apparent, this does divulge on several key points and will only increase the further we go.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

Oak stood, surrounded on all sides by massive, towering blackened trunks which even now Machoke and Machamp were in the process of tearing down and dragging away. He had reported the blaze to the league, and Lance, seeing the opportunity for further expansion had jumped upon it with considerable gusto. The blaze had burnt down enough of the forest to make it possible for a path to be forged between Viridian and the southern part of the Palletian peninsula, which would provide a new frontier for Kanto.

None of this was currently on Oak's mind, however.

The gall of that Blackthorn.

A _man, bordering on freakishly tall, garbed in an outrageously voguish cape held on by a golden chain, stood atop the rock which merely hours ago had been the sight of Delia's death. Oak wished nothing more than to leave, but when the champion called, you answered. _

"_You still haven't given me a concrete answer about what happened here, Oak." _

_Lance's voice had a smooth, addicting quality about it which seeped into the listener, making them wish nothing more than to do as the Champion wished. One of the reasons he made such a unifying ruler, Oak supposed. _

"_I've told you, I came here after detecting the blaze and immediately reported to the league, as per protocol." Oak winced internally, his claim was rife with gaps and wouldn't hold up to any extended scrutiny. _

_Lance knew this as well, if his dangerously sharp gaze towards Oak was anything to go by. The Champion let out a deep sigh, propping his head against his hand for a moment, before looking up towards Oak, the tension previously present within the Champion gone. _

"_You have served the League, and society as a whole well, Oak, even if you did have a particular," he paused, searching for the right words, "...fondness for the traitor, Red." _

_Lance's lips upturned at his own mention of Red and a somewhat predatory gleam entered his eyes. Oak opened his mouth to defend himself, but the Champion silenced him with a wave of his arm any sign of aggression gone once again._

"_We have gone over the issue of Red a few times before, it will not help to do so again. Regardless, I do not have much time so I will make my request short, it is time for you to retire, you have dedicated your life to our society, and the league, it is time you rest, spend time with your grandson, Gary is his name- if my memory recalls." _

_Oak pondered if the mention of his family was a subtle threat or genuine concern, he and the champion had only brief correspondence before, and while both advocated for a peaceful diplomatic approach towards other regions, their views rarely coincided elsewhere. Oak hadn't expected this request so soon, but retirement wasn't entirely unexpected either._

_The Champion, mistaking Oak's lack of response as interest continued, "Of course, this retirement would leave you free to do as you wish, but..."_

_The Champion paused momentarily, glancing down towards a tree that had just collapsed in a storm of crackling embers. The professor was too exhausted by the events prior to formulate a meaningful response. He was getting old, a fact he was made more aware of every day. _

"_Start the first settlement south of Viridian." Oak stared incredulously, confusion quickly making way to anger, "you are an accomplished trainer, and an even more accomplished professor, your reputation is widely known- and people will feel safe to expand southward."_

_Oak finally had enough, anger coursed through his ailing body, giving him newfound energy. Not only did this man seek to essentially force him to retire, abandoning his decades of league work, but he also expected him to go quietly and continue to do his bidding._

"_I'm not going to become a League pawn that is used to enf-" Oak suddenly was bent over as a wracking cough nearly forced the beleaguered professor to his knees. _

_The Champion's expression flashed too quickly to decipher, before returning to the impassive mask of stone it was prior. Oak burned with shame. Lance cut off Oak's coughing, "The League will not interfere nor require anything of you, there will no sanctioned league influence here until you have passed away, you will have autonomy, and be free to do as you please. Your integrity is ironclad from what I have heard, and you are trusted to not abuse this power." _

_Oak's mind reeled in exhausted confusion, why would the Champion do such a thing? It was entirely contrary to his aggressiveness in expansion throughout Kanto. Lance, to Oak's knowledge, was single-minded in his goal to settle and consolidate the entirety of the region._

_Lance clearly registered his confusion, "I know, this is rather unlike me." _

_The champion paced back and forth formulating words, "I did not consider this avenue until very recently, but you must understand, you must." The champion licked his lips, indecision, and hesitation on his face, but nonetheless, he forced himself to continue, "There are forces even beyond the League's control, and I do not wish to be spread thinner than we already are." _

_The Champion clearly wished to continue, but a harsh beeping emitted from a screen on his wrist, with a single look at it, Lance withdrew a Pokeball, and turned back towards Oak, "I look forward to seeing the settlement's plans… Pallet Town has a nice ring to it, does it not?" _

Oak, snapping himself out of his recollection, had to admit to himself, the Champion did know how to make an offer the aging professor couldn't refuse. He still had several underlying questions that were not answered, but they could be placed on the backburner for the moment.

"Alakazam, show yourself." A patch of burnt forest simmered for a moment behind Oak before seeming to slide off the a golden bipedal creature with a glorious mustache. If one were to look closely they would see the creature had extremely fine golden hairs covering its body, but from afar it seemed to be a brilliant shining gold. Oddly, there was a bundle of blankets which was emitting a high pitched whining suspended in mid-air next to Alakazam.

"_This… creature is most annoying, Master" _

Oak did not know where he would be if not for the companionship of his Alakazam during his younger years. Yet, no matter how many experiences they had together, or times he had asked the psychic type to stop, the psychic type refused to stop referring towards Oak as 'master'.

"You are one crotchety beast, my friend, it is a baby." Oak admonished absentmindedly

Alakazam's only response was to levitate the bundle towards the Professor. After being cuddled against Oak's chest the baby grew silent and fell into a swift slumber. This bundle of warmth was the most pressing matter. Oak was no stranger to raising a child, he had raised one of his own, and as he liked to consider, adopted one as well, and soon would be a Grandpa.

If it was as simple a choice between raising Delia and Red's son, there wouldn't have been a single thought to the contrary within Oak's mind. However, the problem was not that straightforward. Red, misguided as usual, was gone and had not known about this mysterious child, nor had anyone known Delia was pregnant- because she was not, as Dragonite attested to. Ash's presence arose many more questions within Oak, but he brushed them aside. His curiosity would be satisfied later.

The fact no one had heard Delia was pregnant gave Oak some leeway, an unannounced baby would not immediately arouse suspicion from the league, but Oak was a highly publicized figure, and would continue to be so for the foreseeable future as the sole jurisdiction over the soon to be constructed settlement, as Lance had suggested, Pallet Town.

Lance, however unlikely it may be, could hear of this child eventually, and when coincided with Delia's death and Red's disappearance it would be a simple jump of was no doubt in Oak's mind that Ash could be used as blackmail to make Red answer for what his supposed crimes, or even worse. The Champion was many things, but dull was not one of them. The fact the baby already had brown, bordering on black hair sprouting from his head did not help matters either. Oak bittersweetly smiled at the resemblance he already bore towards his father.

He could not abandon the boy, that was out of the question, he would not fail Red, nor Delia, yet directly raising the boy would be potentially even more dangerous for the child.

Oak grimaced, there was only one option.

Thus, the first building constructed in Pallet Town was the Oak Orphanage.

* * *

A boy, a mop of uncontrolled black hair being blown each and every way, raced throughout the streets of Pallet, footsteps not far behind him. Just a bit further and he would be on the outskirts of Pallet, Gary and his goons still refused to follow him out to where wild Pokemon could be found. To be fair, he wouldn't either if he had been trapped by a caterpie's web overnight. The boy snickered in spite of the situation he was in

That momentary lapse in concentration was unfortunate, as the boy's foot came down onto a root which emerged from the dirt path beneath and twisted at a sickening angle. The teen fell into a crumpled heap, knocking the breath from him and scraping his hands against the sprinkled pebbles throughout the dirt path.

He forced himself to his feet and tried to continue running, even as the footsteps and laughter drew closer, but it was not to be. He fell back to the ground, the pain in his ankle was too severe. He stared down at his ankle, probing it with his hands, the boy didn't think it was broken, just sprained, but to be fair, what did he know about ankle injuries?

The boy, hobbled to his feet, and stared towards the figures approaching him, now at a leisurely walk after having noticed the boy's situation, snide laughter was galore. There were only three boys including Gary today, likely due to many of the children staying home to study for the Pokemon Training exams. The exams determined who would be sponsored by their regional jurisdictor, in prospective trainers from Pallet and thus Ash's case, it was Professor Oak. In many of the more populated and developed regions of Kanto jurisdictors were gym leaders. Passing the exam allowed the trainer to receive their choice of starter from the Pokemon which their jusrisdictor provided . Those with the highest scores had priority in choosing their Pokemon, and those who didn't pass were forced to either wait another year, or go into a different field apart from Pokemon training.

While it was possible to obtain a trainer's license without passing the exam, it was exceedingly rare, and was only given out in very unique cases by approved league personnel.

He had no question he would be able to pass the exam, and finally be free to escape the orphanage, although, if he were honest with himself, he would miss Lucretia. She was stern, but fair, and had patched him up more times than he could count.

The thought of Lucretia caused him to take a cursory look over his clothes, and sighed as he saw the massive tear which exposed his knee to the air. Maybe it was a good thing the exams were tomorrow he thought to himself with a wry grin, if he stayed at the orphanage any longer he would have to deal with weeks of Lucretia's anger- that woman knew how to hold a grudge.

"Hey, Ashy-boy, taking a tumble, I see!" exclaimed a boy only slightly taller Ash but much larger in stature, with light brown hair swept up as if in a permanent wind blown state. Ash hated that voice, it was snide, it was contemptuous, but above all he was the grandson of Samuel Oak, a man Ash admired above all other.

So much for a peaceful few hours of relaxing before the biggest day of his life.

Ash, warily, glanced at the three boys standing only feet away on the dirt path. Fake smiles, or perhaps they were genuine in a sadistic way, were mirrored across all three, "What do you want, Gary?"

"You wound me, pal!" Gary's fake cheer dripped through each word, but Ash was accustomed to it, "Is it a crime to ask how you are going to do on the Aptitude Exam?"

Ash sighed, his ankle was really starting to ache. The boys had rarely resorted to physical violence, but dirty tricks and embarrassment were all too common. Ash had long ago learned to watch out for himself, no one else did so, after all.

"I don't have time for these games today, Gary, what do you really want?" Ash tiredly questioned.

Gary's grin shrunk into a devilish smirk; "I was telling the truth, Ashy!"

The two stocky boys of whom Ash could hardly recall their names accompanying Gary laughed uproariously and Ash's gut turned to lead as he saw what they were holding. Gary slowly drew a rope out and languishly turned it around in his hands before winking at Ash.

"How are you going to pass if you won't be there?"

* * *

That was how Ash found himself tied up and deposited slightly off to the side of a scarcely traveled path on the outskirts of Pallet town. Wild pokemon this close to the town were no threat, Ash had made friends- or tried to, with many of them in his free time, having to hide in places such as where he now found himself in order to escape Gary.

No, the reason the young teen was shaking with rage was because the exam was not something which could be taken on a whim, there was one testing date per town per year, and it was non-negotiable. If a trainer were to miss his testing date, no matter the reason, they were forced to wait another year to take the aptitude exam. Perhaps if he had lived in a upscale city the League would be more accommodating but as this was the frontier, he had little hope of making it in time unless he managed to free himself.

Ash strained against the binds until his wrists felt like they would snap, until they were chapped and raw. He tried to rub the rope against the bark had some success fraying the rope, but the progress was negligible compared to the thickness of the strands.

He had screamed until his voice was raw, but it did little to penetrate the cloth which was roughly tied around his mouth, not that if anyone had heard they were likely to approach a stranger screaming in the forest anyhow. The frontier was a place filled with exiles and many oddities, Professor Oak managed to keep most of hem in line, but still it was not a place to push your luck.

He would doubtlessly be found eventually, but time was not on his side.

As the sun drew lower and lower, as his stomach grumbles increased in intensity, a desperate thirst, and as the overwhelming urge to pee overcame Ash, he finally capitulated.

It was foolish afterall, his dreams of training and becoming better than Gary and proving himself worthy of this existence. He was nothing other than an orphan, and Gary was the son of the most accomplished Pokemon Professor in modern history and a past member of the elite four to top it off. All the times Ash had vied desperately with the other occupants at the orphanage for a spot nearest to the television to watch Lance, the dragon master face off against other members of the elite four, or the rare challenger. The many times Ash had desperately tried to get wild pidgey to follow his bidding, or the hours of preparation Ash had put forth for the rare simulation battles which were the best parts of his education. Each of these were likely for naught- at least for another year.

The dreams of one day standing in front of his tormentors, proving Gary, and all the other occupants of Pallet that he was more than a simple orphan had burned deeply within Ash. Now, it was faltering, a flame sputtering and dying.

As Ash's hope that had imbued him merely hours before faded away, drifting further and further away, so too did his consciousness as he fell into a deep sleep, surrounded by nature and the chirping of wild pokemon.

He awoke to a curious squawking and painful brightness. Ash blearily glanced around, his throat ached for water, and he instinctively tried to stand only to collapse as the ropes skewed his balance.

It was such a nice dream too, Ash thought.

_Squawk_

Ash startled, his head snapping up towards the bird in front of him. Ash had seen plenty of Pidgey before, even the occasional pidgeotto during his time studying in Oak's Flaura, but this magnificent creature was something beyond all of them.

A Pidgeot, beautifully pruned feathers reflected the early morning light, and the crest was a collage of gold and red, combining to form a brilliant mane which contrasted the sharp bronze beak, and a sharp pair of eyes. Not even the Pidgeot he had seen on the televised conference battles compared to this beauty.

It took Ash a moment to snap out of the mystified shock at being near such a creature and realize that this entity was chirping at him, and rather exasperatedly.

"Don't eat me, I'm skinny I swear!" Ash protested desperately, drawing the only logical conclusion.

The bird's chirp grew even more offended at the thought of her deeming to eat something as lowly as a simple human, and her wings began to grow a bright white. Ash started towards the wings in a delirious shock, first, he was trapped in a forest on his lonesome without food and water, doomed to postpone his journey for yet another year, and now he was about to be skewered alive by the most magnificent Pidgeot he had ever seen.

Ash squinted his eyes closed, the lack of water and food must be catching up to him, he thought.

"This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real." Ash chanted over and over again. He felt a soft brush of displaced air, and opened his eyes.

The Pidgeot was gone as if she had never been there, but that was not on Ash's mind. The constraints which had been digging into his wrists and his feet were Pidgeot must have cut him loose. He was free! Ash stared dumbly at the ground for a moment confused why the bird would do such a thing, before realizing he could still make the test.

Despite the lack of food and water and an ankle which was still aching, Ash took off at a manic pace back towards the village. Adrenaline pounded through his blood, rendering pain, dehydration, and exhaustion to mere annoyances. Judging by the sun, he still had time, but he wasn't entirely sure. He ran as he had never ran before, taking corners recklessly, leaping over potholes and roots, trying to reach the Professor's lab in time.

His ankle throbbed, and sent blasts of sharp pain, but it failed to penetrate the adrenaline coursing through the boy's veins.

He was cresting the rather steep hill which led to the Professor's laboratory and saw the collection of teens outside the doors of the Professor's lab, and relief seeped through Ash. He would make it! Gary's plan wouldn't work, and after he passed the exam he would be able to protect himself from being put into such a situation ever again.

It was not to be. Almost as soon as Ash had crested the hill, only a few hundred meters from the doors of Oak's laboratory, they opened and the students filed in, Ash put on a last burst of speed trying to make it there, perhaps if he were only a few seconds late they would make an exception.

Any of that hope was dashed seconds later as a shooting pain penetrated the single-minded fog which obscured Ash's mind, snapping him out of the adrenaline high he had been in. He stumbled to the ground. His ankle had given out on him once again, reaggravating the previous injury. Ash stared towards the laboratory, but he did not see. Ash's mind was elsewhere, the dreams which had been hastily rebuilt were as easily crushed in a matter of minutes. He stared down at his torn, mud covered pants, and hobbled to his feet.

Back to the orphanage. It was just one year after all.

"Just a year.." The boy whispered to himself staring out over the Pokemon inhabited Flora which encompassed acres of land which the Professor had said were once nothing other burnt remnants of the southern portion of the Viridian forest. Tears threatened to leak out, but Ash refused to let them.

He had not cried when he broke his arm after Gary had "accidentally" pushed him out of a tree, nor had he cried when his fellow peers were showered with accolades and love from their parents when he himself had none.

He would not cry over a year of his life being wasted.

Instead, he focused on the beauty of these great creatures which inhabited the flora. Oak's Arcanine bounded across the grass-covered fields, a gaggle of Growlithe yipping behind her.

A group of water pokemon shot jets of water across a pond with loud cacophonies of competitive squeals. Roars, squeals, and everything between combined to form a single symphony which resonated within Ash.

The flora truly was a magnificent sight and it had taken decades of work and preparation to come to fruition. The breeding and careful micromanaging of terrain and dietary resources in order to create an environment which in many ways went entirely contrary to the very nature of the Pokemon who resided there was incredible.

To Ash, however, it was a bittersweet beauty. The magnificent sight before him only served to remind him of what he would be missing for a whole year. True, the wild was rarely as beautiful as Oak's flora, but the struggle to survive amidst an ever-changing landscape possessed an unknown beauty Ash had never experienced before, yet he thirsted for such a challenge.

Letting out one last sigh, the teenaged boy began a long walk back towards the Orphanage, the Oak Laboratory was a considerable distance from the Townshend itself and the journey was made even longer as he was forced to hobble, heavily favoring one leg.

"Ash, what are you doing out here?" a grizzled voice, one Ash knew and respected snapped the boy from his musings.

"Professor Oak, sir," he paused awkwardly, "I am sorry, I was late to the exam."

* * *

"Professor Oak, sir," Delia's son paused awkwardly, "I am sorry, I was late to the exam."

It was almost painful how much the boy resembled his mother, the only difference being the masculine features and the hair, which was unruly just like Red's. Oak had not heard from Red since that fateful day and had long since abandoned any hope of finding him. Even worse, he was forced to stay distant from Delia's and Red's only remnant upon the world for the boy's own safety.

Of course, he did take precautions, he had hand chosen the warden of his orphanage and monitored from afar the boy's studies, his character, and while quiet and preferring his own company he seemed to be a normal boy. His test scores were nothing special, but certainly, enough to pass the exam. That was if he had bothered to show up.

Admittedly, Oak regretted not taking a closer interest in the boy's life, but perhaps doing so was for the best.

After the initial confusion of seeing Delia's son here, when he should be inside taking the test, the professor's brain began to whirl. Oak could potentially convince the league to allow the boy to take the exam at a later date but doing so would draw too much attention towards Ash. Which would entirely contradict the very reason he had hidden his connection to Ash in the first place for the last decade and a half. Besides, if the boy didn't care enough to arrive at the aptitude test on time, he deserved to stay in the town for another year.

"I am sorry, my boy... " the professor paused, genuine regret seeping into his voice, "my hands are tied, I cannot interfere with the test once it has begun."

"It's alright, Professor, I understand." The boy, dejectedly turned his head down and began walking away, and Oak's vision, decaying as it was, noticed the odd gait he was walking in, and the Professor turned his ailing eyes towards the rest of the boy he considered a grandson- even if Ash himself would never know.

Mud covered the boy's jeans, and a hole exposed his knee, his wrists were pink and raw, and he was clearly favoring one leg. What was the meaning of this?

The Professor called out questioningly, "Ash, you're a mess, what happened to you?"

The boy rubbed his hand through his hair, a pink hue coloring his cheeks.

"I was just clumsy and fell on my way here, Professor.." The boy was a horrible liar.

At that very moment, Oak felt a soft brush within his mind, he recognized immediately as Alakazam's connection. The psychic, sensing his recognition, forged a complete psychic connection, and Oak's eyes lit up in a brilliant white, the sign of a full-fledged dual connection.

It took a moment to regain his bearings as another creature's memory was played within his mind through Alakazam's connection. The Professor quickly recognized it was his own Pidgeot, sailing over Pallett, miles above the canopy of trees and houses beneath, it was beautiful, if he could say so without being overly prideful. The flying continued for a few moments and Oak began to grow impatient, even though on the outside world nearly no time had passed, he was eager to find out what had truly happened to young Ash.

Little did Oak know the answer would shortly be revealed.

An indistinguishable flash of color near one of the paths which snaked near the forest on the outskirts of Pallet drew the sharp eyes of Pidgeot. Letting out a curious chirp, the massive avian dived, accelerating to an exhilarating degree within seconds, causing Oak's head to spin, even though it was simply a memory.

To think he had once ridden untop such a magnificent beast, and now he could hardly watch a memory of her flight, Oak ridiculed his own state.

Shortly, the bird was perched in the upper branches staring downwards towards a crumpled figure lying dejectedly against a tree. It took Oak only a moment to recognize Ash's trademark deep brown, messy hair. The Pidgeot perched on the tree, chirping before growing impatient and casually gliding to the ground next to Ash.

Oak took in the condition of his charge, and immediately decided he had seen all he needed to, his anger severed the psychic connection and he immediately strode down the path, his long, purposeful strides quickly overtaking Ash's own.

* * *

Ash sulked down the path back towards the orphanage, dejected, self-deprecating thoughts circling throughout his mind. He was interrupted from his musings, as a hand gripped his shoulder squeezing almost painfully.

The teen turned his head back, recognizing Professor Oak, but as he had rarely seen him before. Other than the time his Dragonite had struck down a migrating Salamence for invading her nesting area, nearly damaging the Lab in the process.

The Professor relaxed his grip, relieving the pressure which had been digging into his shoulder, he drew in a calming breath, and softly lifted his hand up, gesturing to the nasty rope burns indented into his wrist.

"Who did this to you?"

There was a subtle anger present imbued within the question, seeming to permeate the very air around the Professor who had seemed younger than Ash had ever seen him. The boy fidgeted, clearly wary to confide to Oak. Not that he had given Ash any reason to, Oak argued internally.

"It isn't a big deal, sir." Ash responded, "I have dealt with it for a while, it usually isn't this bad."

Ash didn't need the Professor to protect him, neither did the teen wish to tell the man his grandson was behind the incidents.

While angry before, the professor was dumb shocked by the fact that Ash had just told him he had been dealing with this type of abuse for his entire life. How had he missed this? He was engaged in his work, and not always monitoring Ash's life, but he had put into place a woman he had trusted in the Orphanage, she should have reported back to him about these incidents.

Come to think of it, perhaps he had just overlooked the subtle signs.

He was growing old.

Oak's anger burned internally. He would find out who did this, whether Delia's son would confide in him or not. It would do no good to force the boy to tell him, the professor had other ways to find out.

The aging man let out a deep sigh, his decision made. He had failed the boy, he had failed Delia and Red. He must make amends, once more. Even if these amends would quite possibly ruin any hope Oak had for establishing a relationship with the boy.

"You may hate me for what I'm going to say." Oak said, resigned to this conversation, "I've never been one to beat around the bush," Oak pursed his lips before continuing, "I knew your parents, Ash."

Ash's initial confusion, he could never hate Professor Oak, quickly gave way. The boy's world paused for a moment. His parents? He had grown up thinking he had either been abandoned or they had died in some freak accident. Why had the Professor not told him? He stared uncomprehendingly at Oak.

"They were two of the most vibrant people I have ever known. You have your mother's eyes, the way they sparkled when considering a new ide-" Oak was cut off.

"Why did you keep this from me?" Ash did not yell, his voice was simply laid bare, his view on the idol for an entire life collapsing.

Oak grimaced, knowing he couldn't answer in full, "I wanted to, Ash, but you must understand I couldn't."

"Why not?!" Ash's voice was now yelling, spooking a few surrounding pidgey into flight from the surrounding branches.

"I can't tell you that either, my boy, I am truly sorry."

Ash paused, clenching his fists, eyes watering, and for the first time since he could remember tears fell from his eyes. He did not respond to the Professor and instead took off down the road towards the orphanage as fast as the injury to his ankle would allow.

Oak sighed sorrowfully, and looked over the flora, not unlike Ash had been doing when he had originally been approached by the professor.

It was time to contact an old friend of his.

* * *

Ash awoke, the bell tolling throughout the orphanage, waking its few inhabitants. Every person there other than Ash were young, as such he had little company within the orphanage and the village as a whole other than himself and the few wild Pokemon he had befriended.

He had parents. Ash, logically speaking, had always known he had parents, but it was different to know such a thing to know they were real, they weren't figments of his imagination, but they were important enough to have known Professor Oak.

The thought of Oak brought unwilling anger and rage to the forefront of Ash's mind, curiosity also stirred, he wanted to know who his parents were, were they trainers? Perhaps Pokemon Professors similar to Oak?

Asking Oak was out of the question, though, Ash thought to himself. He would not talk to someone who had hidden such a thing from him for his entire life, and to compound matters, he refused to tell him why he hid it from Ash.

Blearily glancing around, he grasped for the light on the bedside table, instead, his hand brushed against a smooth surface knocking it to the ground. Ash ignored it, turned the light on, and stood, stumbling as his body accustomed to the sore painful ankle which strained under the weight. Injuries were always worse in the morning.

Gritting his teeth the boy continued towards the bathroom. If there was one benefit to being the oldest in the orphanage, it was the fact he was allotted the privacy of his own shower, even if the hot water wasn't exactly… hot.

Ash emerged from the shower his hair even more of a mess than usual agitated by the teen's effort with a towel. The lukewarm water seemed to have cleansed the sharp stabbing pain from yesterday, and all that was left within was a dull resignation to another year. A year headstart for all those who he sought to prove wrong.

Sighing, the teen headed back towards his bed. There was always a week or so vacation period after the upperclassmen took the aptitude test. Families came from afar congratulating relatives, trainers prepared to leave, and the lower classmen watched the festivities with awe. The week was as close to a holiday as existed in Pallett, yet for Ash it was just a reminder of how isolated he was from the rest of the world. Ash had always been consumed with a fire to overcome all those who wronged him, but perhaps there was an even greater underlying reason.

Ash, noticing a flat red object on the ground recalled knocking something off his bedside table. Stooping down slowly, the boy picked it up, confusingly. He certainly did not own anything like this. Turning the object around he noticed hinges, and pried the two sections of the rectangle apart, opening them in opposite directions.

The significance of the device did not strike Ash until the touch screen flickered on, displaying a Pokemon league logo, before switching to another screen which scrolled through pages upon pages of Pokemon.

It was a Pokedex, and not just any, it was one of the newest models developed, but how had it ended up here? Baffled, the teen navigated to the profile section of the Pokedex which detailed information such as Trainer ID, home town, current trainer level and much more.

Pokedex was rapidly gaining popularity, but classic trainer cards were still much more common. As such, Ash had little experience with the device. Nonetheless, his lack of experience did not stop Ash from recognizing the importance of what was now displayed on his screen.

In bright bold white letters, the screen detailed the device as being owned by Ash of Pallet. His last name was listed as Pallet due to his unknown heritage and instead named after the town he was born in. Ash, in disbelief, scrolled down, trainer ID was listed, the home town was listed, his birthday, every piece of information was accurate to Ash's knowledge, until the very last box.

_Sponsor: Bill Montgomery _

Ash knew who Bill Montgomery was, in fact nearly every person in the known world knew who he was. The researcher had revolutionized the field of pokemon storage and transportation. He was single-handedly responsible for the greatest leap in technological advancement since Oak's Pokeball was able to be mass produced.

Why would he be sponsoring Ash?

In apparent confusion, the boy turned the device over in his hands searching for clues he had missed prior. He noticed a sticky note on the floor which must have been discarded in his haste. Ash squinted at the microscopic writing which was scrawled across the paper.

_Ash, I know you must be angry- and I do not blame you. As I'm sure you've noticed this is a league sanctioned Pokedex. I was able to call in a favor from an old friend and he has agreed to sponsor your journey. Do not expect much from him aside from what is required, he is rather… well you'll see when you meet him. I am truly sorry for what has happened to you for the past years of your life, and the secrets I have kept from you. You have no reason to trust me, but this is of the most importance: do not under any circumstance reveal your connection to me or Pallet town._

_Good luck, make your parents proud. _

_P.S. Bill can be found in his cabin near Cerulean… most of the time. _

Ash stared down at the paper, conflicted. On one hand, the professor had arranged one of the most qualified researchers in the world to sponsor his journey and must have gone around several league guidelines in doing so. Then, on the other hand, he still refused to tell him about his parents. The curiosity as to why he could not reveal his connection to Oak was quickly wiped away as the written words finally began to impact the boy.

He was going to be a trainer!

* * *

Training and battles start picking up next chapter. Training sessions will hopefully not just be filler and serve some purpose in the overarching plot during battles, etc.


	3. Chapter 3

_Ash, I know you must be angry- and I do not blame you. As I'm sure you've noticed this is a league sanctioned Pokedex. I was able to call in a favor from an old friend and he has agreed to sponsor your journey. Do not expect much from him aside from what is required, he is rather… well, you'll see when you meet him. I am truly sorry for what has happened to you for the past years of your life, and the secrets I have kept from you. You have no reason to trust me, but this is of the most importance: do not under any circumstance reveal your connection to me or Pallet town._

_Good luck, make your parents proud. _

_P.S. Bill can be found in his cabin near Cerulean… most of the time. _

_Ash stared down at the paper, conflicted. On one hand, the professor had arranged one of the most qualified researchers in the world to sponsor his journey and must have gone around several league guidelines in doing so. Then, on the other hand, he still refused to tell him about his parents. The curiosity as to why he could not reveal his connection to Oak was quickly wiped away as the written words finally began to impact the boy. _

_He was going to be a trainer! _

* * *

Ash sat in his room, rooted in place. He had just discovered that his dreams were not in fact dead.

The young trainer had a Pokedex, trainer identification, but the most important part of being a trainer to the teenager was missing: a starter pokemon. Ash scratched his head, Oak had failed to mention a starter Pokemon in his note.

Oak couldn't have forgotten such an important aspect of the journey, right? A thousand scenarios flashed through Ash's head- him having to convince one of the weak wild Pokemon he had befriended to join him on his journey as a starter, to which Ash snorted. Perhaps his sponsor was to issue the starter Pokemon, but then how was he to reach Cerulean without a starter in the first place?

Ash began to scan the note once again, maybe he had missed something. Suddenly, an overwhelming presence inside the room caused his hairs to stand on end, and goosebumps to spread across the teen's neck.

Startled, the boy glanced around the room, and lo and behold in the corner of the room levitated a large golden humanoid figure. It was an Alakazam. Oak's Alakazam. The Alakazam was rarely spotted in town, in fact, it was more of a myth than anything else. Ash having watched the ancient film of Oak's league battles during the Professor's tenure as a member of the Elite Four, however, was familiar with the Pokemon, in the sense of knowing how it battled.

Only a select few, as far as Ash knew had ever seen it- or rather her in person before. The substantially shorter mustache clearly denoted the Alakazam as a female.

"_Are you merely going to stand there and gawk like a simpleton?" _

The reaction of Ash was almost comical, the sentence seemed to resonate within his mind, echoing through his brain, something entirely unique which Ash had never experienced before. In theory, the trainer had known a telepathic connection was possible, but he had never foreseen experiencing such a thing, not until many years after starting his journey anyway.

The Alakazam displayed no outward annoyance but somehow managed to exude a metaphysical sigh of disappointed into the boy's mind.

"_I can't believe I agreed to assist such a simpleton, even if only for your matriarch's sake." _

"You knew my mother?".

"_Yes." _

"What happened to her, who was she-" The boys questioning was abruptly cut off as the world sickeningly turned. Alakazam seemed to have no tolerance for questions. The world spun dizzily around Ash and with a nearly inaudible pop, the boy and the Alakazam vanished from the orphanage. The experienced psychic pokemon certainly could have made the process substantially smoother, but she was out of practice after all, or so the psychic type rationalized internally.

The boy, his head still spinning blearily glanced around his new surroundings. As his head cleared, a sense of awe grew. The sparsely furnished bedroom was gone, and instead, they seemed to be in a clearing within a forest which exuded a presence that was nearly indescribable. The only thing the boy could compare it to was Alakazam's psychic presence, although the one within the forest was more subtle though on a much grander scale.

Dark trees, with leaves which almost seemed purple towered overhead obscuring any light from passing through the canopy. Glowing fireflies leisurely floated through the air allowing the boy to see through the darkness.

The very forest seemed to teem with vibrancy and life, although there was no life to be seen around him other than he, Alakazam and the fireflies. Ash finally turned his gaze around to the center of the clearing the Alakazam had transported them to and felt his heart stop for what seemed like a lifetime.

There was a single painstakingly carved stone- a gravestone. Decorative patterns in the shapes of flowers spiraled around the rock, and in the center lied a single word.

Delia.

Flowers, bearing the namesake of the word upon the gravestone sprouted from the ground around the clearing. It was beautiful yet a melancholy, almost despondent type of beauty.

Alakazam, sparing the boy the nearly impossible task of formulating words answered the swirling questions within his mind.

"_Yes, this is where your mother lies." _

Ash crumpled to his knees, brushing his hands across the patterns on the tombstone. What would his life have been if she had been here? Oak refused to tell him about his parents. One day, once he was stronger, once he could protect himself from whatever Oak was scared of, he would find out the truth of his parents. Sniffling, Ash shakily stood to his feet.

Alakazam merely observed the scene impassively.

"What…" the boy struggled to formulate words, "what was she like?"

"_She was the only person aside from my master I trusted. She was brilliant, talented, and wise beyond her years. Regardless, it does you no good to look back. What is done is done. I brought you here to look into the future." _For once, Alakazam did not speak with derision. For a boy to live his entire life ignorant of who and what his parents were, it was understandable to be as Ash currently was- weak. In fact, it was one of the only times the psychic type had resolutely disagreed with her trainer's decision. Any of Oak's team would have likely died to protect Delia, perhaps not that brute Charizard, but the rest would have indubitably. There was no doubt in Alakazam that they would have protected her offspring as well.

Nonetheless, what was done is done, and there was something much more important happening today. It was not Alakazam's place to question her master anyways.

A third living being made its presence known after Alakazam's declaration. A white ethereal substance, almost like cloth floating off the ground was the first thing the teen noticed, a pair of slender legs were visible through the slightly transparent material. Further up lay a crest of brilliant purple, placed center between two slender arms, and a green halo rested untop the creature's head. A pair of deep purple eyes, the same color as the being's crest gazed with an otherworldly intensity towards Ash. A Gardevoir, a pokemon Ash had only seen once before on television and the one on television did not compare in any aspect to the one before him.

The trainer was in mild disbelief, in the past day he had laid eyes on three of the most magnificent Pokemon he had ever seen. This Gardevoir, however, was a step above.

The boy felt a new presence upon his mind, and whereas Alakazam's was domineering and controlling, the touch of this creature was similar to a soft summer wind casually brushing through a field of wheat.

The connection was not nearly as refined towards human communication as Alakazam's, but the message it attempted to convey was no less clear: Do not let fail the creature.

And then, a single image was imposed in Ash's brain, it was impossible to describe what the feeling was, almost as if he was having a new memory implanted into his brain. It was of the most beautiful woman Ash had ever seen.

Curly brown tresses framed a heart-shaped face which was currently laughing, a brilliant smile gracing her face. Her eyes, even in the daylight seemed to sparkle brighter than the sunlight itself, piercing right into Ash.

Was that his mom?

Then, as suddenly as a summer breeze, the connection was gone, taking the memory with it, and Ash felt the feeling of loss as he had never before felt, it was a simple picture, but the boy's mind desperately scrambled for the image within his head once again- but it was gone. A mental nudge from Alakazam, much gentler than the previous ones, drawing his attention away from his loss.

Next to the brilliant Gardevoir stood a much less exceptional creature. A body of the same white material which made up Gardevoir floated mere inches off the ground next to her. The creature was a fraction of the height of the Gardevoir and had a massive green mushroom topped head, completely disproportionate to its body. The mushroom topped head had a frill which almost entirely obscured the pokemon's sight, as such, it was forced to stare upwards at an angle in order to be able to see.

It was a Ralts. The breeding practices of Gardevoir were practically unknown. What knowledge there was of them merely suggested that Ralts were rare, and rare they were. To possess a Ralts was almost unheard of amongst young trainers, much less as a starter.

Ralts had no real legs, it was forced to use its sparse psychic powers to lift itself up for movement. In practice, they were a very hard Pokemon to train due to their lack of mobility, move set, and frankly just power in general.

Ash, however, was not focused on the training possibilities. With a tunnel gaze, the boy stared towards the Ralts which slowly levitated towards the teen. The soon-to-be trainer stooped down so the pokemon was not forced to stare nearly vertically towards him and made eye contact. Training practices he had learned as a part of his time at school were brushed aside as Ash seemed to be drawn into the Ralt's gaze.

"Do you wish to be my starter, Ralts?" The words came unbidden from Ash, almost as if they were not of his own accord.

For the third time in the day, a psychic connection was formed between Ash and a pokemon- this one, however, was nearly unnoticeable. The Ralts, lacking a mouth, was not able to give any verbal indication so it had to settle for the barest of psychic affirmation.

Ash was knocked out of his stupor, and let out a cheer interrupting the silent tranquility of the forest clearing. He picked up his starter, who came about three-quarters of the way up to his knee and twirled him around in pure unadulterated joy.

Oak's Alakazam stared towards the Ralts, the slightest semblance of emotion upon his face, before turning away, and watching the Gardevoir silently drift back into the forest.

"_That's enough, we must be going." _

Ash, somewhat abashedly, placed his pokemon down on the ground once again. Ralts were incapable of displaying facial emotion, but Ash felt as if the Ralts was, if not happy, at least acceptant of leaving his mother and coming with the trainer.

Ash looked up, intending to thank the brilliant Gardevoir, but it was nowhere to be found.

"That was my mother's pokemon, wasn't it?" Ash asked aloud.

"_Yes."_ Came Alakazam's single worded answer.

Ash took one long look at his mother's gravestone, and before he had time to voice his desire to leave, he was standing in the orphanage room he had occupied for as long as he could remember, the only tangible thing evidencing that his experience wasn't a dream was the Ralts at his side.

Maybe the festivities tonight wouldn't be too bad, after all, the boy grinned.

* * *

Letting out an ecstatic cheer, a teenaged boy with dark brown hair, bordering on black, bolted down the orphanage stairs, past a bewildered matron, and into the front yard of the orphanage. Perhaps the oddest thing about this boy, however, was the Pokemon latched onto his head, sitting atop his shoulders.

Ash hadn't even realized the amount of time that had passed. It was almost evening. Time seemed to have been a blur as Ash had laid next to Ralts, not saying much, but simply enjoying the feeling which even now continued to circulate within the trainer. He had a starter, and not just any starter, the offspring of his mother's Gardevoir.

According to the entry on the Pokedex, it was vital for a trainer to upkeep a psychic connection with the Ralts in order to develop the Ralts' psychic stamina and ability. As such, the barest semblance of pressure in the trainer's head belied the connection between him and his psychic type. Hardly anything passed through the connection from Ralts, other than the odd, faint emotion. It took much of Ralts' concentration simply to upkeep a connection.

Indeed, within the entry on Ralts was the information it would take months, if not years, as well as evolution to develop the psychic connection to a state that was usable for communication during battles.

Brushing thoughts of training away, Ash glanced around. The sky was slowly darkening. Families were walking around the town, and an atmosphere of a community was in the air. The week prior to trainers leaving the small town truly transformed Pallet town from a divided and isolated town, into a brilliant conglomeration of interconnected families.

Only ten or so trainers passed the exam every year, but the week meant much more to the citizens of Pallet than simply trainers preparing to leave.

For the past fifteen, soon to be sixteen, years of his life this week had been a day of longing for Ash. He had sat at his window and lusted for the sense of family which he had been cruelly robbed of while watching the people around the town come together. People rarely ventured down to the edge of society for noble purposes, but that failed to inhibit the sense of community in the small town.

Objectively, it truly was impressive what Oak had created here, even if Ash wasn't sure what to think of the aged professor. For once in his life, Ash felt at peace. Of course, it was only temporary, his journey would begin in a matter of days, but Ash's ambitions could take a backburner for a single night, that wasn't a crime.

Unfortunately, peace was not to be.

"If it isn't Ashy!" a snide voice called out, "Looking forward to _next_ year's celebration? It's a shame you couldn't be honored this year."

Gary stood alone this time. Ash immediately noticed the newly released Pokenav strapped around Gary's wrist. He would never admit it, but he was slightly jealous of the boy's connections via his father and evident wealth. Furthermore, there was a shiny unused red and white Pokeball strapped to the belt around his waist. Ash, lacking a Pokeball, had been unable to capture his starter yet, much to his embarrassment. He had hoped to avoid asking Oak for one as his lying to Ash still was raw, but perhaps that was unavoidable.

"I don't know if I'll be back in Pallet for the celebration or not," Ash said. Gary had evidently not noticed the Ralts, which was obscured by the shape of Ash's head and the sparsely lit path.

"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day Ashey would give up on becoming a Pokemon trainer." Gary laughed, unable to come to the conclusion Ash was, in fact, becoming a trainer. Which, Ash admitted to himself, was extremely unlikely.

"Well, smell ya later." Gary's casual dismissal was perhaps more biting to Ash than any vitriol would have been. Ash felt blood rush to his face but nonetheless resisted with all his might against responding to his life long tormentor. Today was the best day of Ash's young life, it wouldn't do to ruin it hours before the day was to end.

Ralts, on the other hand, had a different idea. Ash felt the weight of Ralts removed from his back, and the psychic type levitated scarcely off the ground in front of Ash. Unsure of what Ralts was doing, his trainer simply watched. Ralts' eyes brightened for a second, and Gary suddenly tripped, falling to the ground. Ash was shocked. The timid Ralts which he had spent the day talking to had attacked Gary. He had known Ralts were sensitive to emotion, perhaps Gary's snideness had set off the otherwise docile pokemon?

Either way, whatever had caused it was not very important at this point. Gary was already standing up, confusion on his face. Once his eyes locked upon the Ralts the confusion was replaced with amusement. Ash wanted to slap himself. He hadn't scanned Ralts' moveset yet. That move could have been any number of attacks, confusion, psychic, disable. Hastefully, Ash pulled his Pokedex out and scanned the moves Ralts possessed.

Psychic, Double team, and tackle. Basic moves many young Ralts would have, it was the last move on the list that drew Ash's attention: teleport. Teleport was a move which many young psychics, the Alakazam line excluded, struggled mightily with. Each psychic had a natural specialization in their power, and while psychics can learn other species specializations as well it took much longer to do so.

The Gardevoir line specialized in physical manifestations, attacks, shields, whereas other lines such as Alakazam were geared towards teleportation and mental power, the Hypno line was oriented towards nightmares, hypnosis and other illusions.

Each psychic line had its benefits and downfalls.

"I seemed to have been mistaken, Ashy!" Garry grinned savagely, "You haven't given up on your dream after all."

Without further ado the boy withdrew the Pokeball from his belt and rolled it between his hands, preparing to throw it out into the path between the two teens.

"Wait a minute…" Gary paused, "You missed the exam, how did you receive a trainer license?"

"By being just as qualified as you, Gary" Ash ground out.

Gary laughed, "Maybe if you keep telling yourself it'll come true one day. Anyways, your starter obviously isn't from Gramps- he doesn't give out weaklings like Ralts."

Ash wanted to defend his Pokemon, but the truth was even Ash doubted Ralts' ability against a Bulbasaur, much less a Pokemon such as Squirtle or Charmander who possessed a much better counter to Ralts.

The presence in Ash's mind was suddenly, brighter, or bigger than before, Ash had trouble putting into words what it felt like. The connection flared several times, each time the feeling it emanated seeming to refine further and further towards a feeling Ash could recognize. In specific, an emotion: defiance.

Ralts did not like Ash doubting him.

"Ralts is not a weakling." Ash had no doubt, his Ralts may not be particularly suited towards battling currently, but he was certainly not weak. He had the drive to prove himself to his trainer, not unlike Ash had to spite those who had looked down upon him throughout his life.

Gary merely quirked an eyebrow, throwing out the pristine Pokeball which materialized into a light blue turtle with a thick shell. The Squirtle upon seeing his opponent seemed to scoff if a turtle could truly scoff, and then beat a hand against his chest.

Gary wasted no time in beginning the fight, "Squirtle, tackle."

The turtle rushed forwards towards Ash's starter nearly tripping over a rock as he did. The stumbling turtle gave Ash an idea for his move.

"Psychic, trip him, Ralts!" The psychic type's eyes lit up, colored pink in the night, and a shimmering barrier seemed to surround the Squirtle's leg.

Instead of tripping the turtle, however, it merely stopped him from moving. This was clearly a battle between newly appointed Pokemon trainers. Neither trainer had trained for any significant time with its Pokemon. The Squirtle was momentarily shocked by his movement being halted, but then regained his bearings and simply stood still.

"Squirtle, bubble, the Ralts can't move while holding that attack!" The Squirtle's mouth and bubbles floated towards the psychic type.

"Ralts, release the attack and dodge!" Ash called out, recognizing the precarious situation Ralts was in.

The psychic dropped the attack and attempted to levitate to the side in order to dodge the incoming bubbles, but it simply wasn't mobile enough. The bubble attack was clearly not refined yet each bubble which hit Ralts popped, knocking the frail pokemon back, but his levitation remained steady.

"Tackle, while it's on the defensive!" Gary called out.

"Ralts, double team!"

The Squirtle raced towards the Ralts which's eyes grew in intensity and a shaky form materialized into shape next to Ralts.

The double team was nearly as unrefined as the Squirtle's prior bubble had been, but nonetheless, it had the desired effect on a Pokemon which had never experienced a double team before.

The Squirtle slowed down, glancing back and forth between the two Ralts in apparent confusion, before glancing back at his trainer. The ploy had worked and bought the duo time, but Ash struggled with how to successfully deal out damage against the armored turtle.

While Gary attempted to corral his Pokemon and get him to attack the true versions of Ralts, Ash saw an opening, there was a large, thick oak tree standing near the end of the path. If Ralts wasn't able to deal out significant damage yet, perhaps he could trick Squirtle into doing the damage for him.

"Ralts, go in front of the tree by the end of the path."

The psychic made its painstakingly slow way towards the tree. Ash glanced back and forth, Ralts' double team was rapidly fading and Squirtle had keyed in on the true Ralts. The armored turtle sprinted on four legs towards the Ralts, a simple tackle attack- but Ralts was frail, especially against physical attacks. Ralts wasn't close enough to the tree as Ash would have liked, but it would have to do.

"Ralts, wait until he is close and teleport behind him, then psychic!"

The psychic type's eyes flared once again as the Squirtle covered ground rapidly.

Ten feet.

Five feet.

The Squirtle was too close.

Ash inwardly sighed, Ralts was not only inexperienced but it was also fighting one of the most immediately competent starter Pokemon. It was unfair to expect him to beat the armored Pokemon without any formal training. Still, the sting of impending defeat was biting.

Ash's thoughts were cut off as Ralts disappeared with an audible snap, appearing behind the Squirtle which was hurtling forward through the air the psychic had occupied moments before- straight, headfirst into the solid oak tree.

The Squirtle let out a grunt, seemingly surprised and then toppled to the ground, unconscious.

Ash, glanced towards Ralts, beaming only to notice the Psychic wavering back and forth, the levitation failing him. Ash quickly scooped up his starter. He didn't sustain any serious injuries but was doubtlessly exhausted.

Teleportation and double team, rough as they were presented a momentous strain on the psychic.

"You did amazing, Ralts, thank you."

Ash glanced around, looking for Gary, expecting a snide comment or excuse, but instead, the boy was simply staring down at the Pokeball in which Squirtle was now stored. Ash waited a few moments more before awkwardly turning to leave.

"Let's get you fixed up, huh?" Ash spoke to Ralts in a soft reassuring voice. It was novel having a friend, even if they had hardly met- the way Ralts had stood up to Gary was an experience unlike any other. No friend had ever stood up to Gary before.

Ralts had.

Ash began cresting the hill leading towards the orphanage. The victory, while satisfying, was not the pinnacle of achievement Ash had expected. Defeating Gary had been a goal for his entire life- but this was not what Ash had been seeking.

No one had seen Gary losing to a poor orphan from Pallet Town, Gary didn't feel the humiliation Ash had each time he was publicly scorned. Besides, that didn't deserve to be called a battle, the true battle would happen in front of hundreds upon thousands.

The Indigo League. However long it took Ash would face Gary there, or at the very least outlast him in the tournament.

Ash, feeling goosebumps crawl across his neck glanced back. Gary had hardly moved, but now his eyes were staring right at Ash with a single-minded intensity. Ash met his gaze, instinctually touching the half broken golden Pokeball which was always sitting on a chain around his neck, he had constructed the necklace himself. Ash broke the gaze and continued up towards his apartment feeling daggers being glared into his back all the while.

* * *

Oak sat staring intently towards the reflective surface of his steel work desk. His desk would have normally been filled with stacks of research papers, strange devices, and prototypical technology. For once it was not.

The Professor was notably absent from the celebrations in Pallet. He rarely made public appearances but the celebration prior to the trainer's departure was one of those occasions most years. Of course, he would be obligated to attend the official ceremony in which the trainers left upon Route 1, all at the same time.

Oak's mind was aware of these things, but his true thoughts lay elsewhere. The aging man was instead reexamining the many decisions he had made, what he could have done differently over the past decade and a half to have not only protected Ash but made his grandson a better person.

Perhaps Alakazam had been right all those years ago in suggesting he raise Delia's son instead.

Gary had always had a somewhat arrogant and aggressive personality, but Oak's hope had always been- and continued to be that training and fall short would temper the young man's worst attributes.

Ash, however, had always been somewhat unsociable, but always polite and well spoken. The reason for his isolation Oak had always considered to be inherited from his father who had only truly ever opened up to Delia. Oak had never truly looked into the matter and had instead occupied his time with research and the development of Pallet.

Worthy pursuits, but paling in comparison to keeping the promise he had made to Delia and Red.

Oak had not only failed with Ash, however but also with his own grandson. If he had only satisfied one of his responsibilities it was very possible the other problems would have never occurred. If only he had watched over Gary, then Ash would have never been subject to the abuse he was.

Oak's self-deprecating thoughts were temporarily muted as the door to the lab slammed open.

Concerned, the aging man stood, a hand going towards where his trainer belt would have been decades prior. Old habits die hard.

"Who's there?"

"It's just me, Gramps," Gary called out sullenly.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it down to the village, how were the celebrations?" Oak questioned, relaxing.

"They were fine." Gary was obviously not entirely focused on the conversation.

"You seem tired, son, you should get some sleep. It's a big week for all of you." Oak said, internally wishing to mention something about Gary's treatment of Ash, but couldn't find the strength to jeopardize his relationship with the boy. There was still time to salvage his grandson's character, the man told himself.

Gary made his way towards the stairs up towards his room before pausing, "The orphan defeated me."

"The orphan, as you put it, is named Ash, Gary." Oak's words possessed some vitriol for once.

"Yes, yes but he defeated me with a puny Ralts! How is that possible?" Gary sounded genuinely confused, "I outperformed him in class for years, theory, practical, it didn't matter!"

Oak himself was surprised as well. Gary was right, his test scores were nearly always better than Ash's, and while the practical work was more even, that novice Ralts should not have been able to defeat a Squirtle raised within the flora.

"Battles are about much more than test scores and mediated practical work, I thought you'd know better." Oak chided.

"What do you even know about battling, Gramps?" Gary asked somewhat scornfully, "Seriously, you've never told me anything about your time as a trainer."

"It's a long story, best left to another time." Oak hadn't spoken of his trainer years intentionally, it was a dark time in his past.

But.

This presented an opportunity to make amends for his failures with his grandson and Ash. If he could take a more active role in Gary's life, it might help end the developing rivalry between him and Ash.

"Actually," Oak paused, "I think it's time you know about my history."

Gary smiled.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm not sure if you guys would prefer shorter more frequent updates or larger 15-20k+chapters. I have around 20-30k words written right now, so it would probably be an update once every couple of months if I was to do much larger chapters. Let me know if you care.

Just reiterate this story will be a bit more gruesome as such starting trainer ages have been raised to 15 in case you missed that in the prior chapters.

My portrayal of Oak is a lonely man who blames himself for much of what has happened around him. It will hopefully be fleshed out more in later chapters.

There will be pairings much further on, I have not decided on what, if any the final pairing will be, but I doubt it will be any of the more common ones on here.


	4. Chapter 4

Ash awoke early.

Ralts was still asleep beside him, the psychic type's eyes were closed and covered by the green frill which draped over his eyes, yet Ash wasn't sure if the Pokemon ever truly slept.

The psychic connection was still there and the trainer may have just been wishing for the best, but he felt as if the psychic link was already brighter and more refined than the previous day. It would take years to develop to its full potential according to the Pokedex, but it didn't provide much information on what the full potential of such a psychic connection was.

The connection wasn't vitally important at the moment anyhow. Ash's thoughts strayed back to the battle the day before. Ralts had been horribly outclassed against the Squirtle, there was no other way to put it.

The combination of weak, underdeveloped attacks and an almost complete lack of mobility was a difficult problem for the trainer. Gardevoir were exceedingly rare but they were rumored to be some of the strongest psychic types in the world.

Ralts, however, was nowhere near that point.

These weaknesses Ralts possessed had to be overcome either by circumventing them with strategy or developing a larger moveset. Ralts had managed to defeat Gary's Squirtle despite dealing out hardly any damage with traditional attacks, but it would be difficult to imitate against any seasoned opponent.

There were several ways which could solve the issues Ash was presented with. The most obvious of which was teleportation. Ralts were not inherently predisposed towards teleportation such as the Abra line was, but if Ash's plans were to be realized, the pokemon would have to learn.

After a sparse breakfast, the only kind the orphanage served, Ash, Ralts upon his shoulder headed out to a secluded area outside Pallet- not particularly far from where he had been accosted by Gary days earlier.

"Ready for our first day of training, buddy?" Ash asked excitedly.

The connection flared brightly in response, Ash assumed that was an affirmation.

"You aren't evolved yet, so your attacks won't be able to pack a real punch for a while as I'm sure you noticed." Ash paused when the connection flared once again, this time in a different manner. It was much more harsh, perhaps indignation, anger? Nonetheless, he continued, "You also aren't very mobile, and probably never will be."

There were two avenues Ash could take with his starter, develop moves which would augment attack strength, a temporary fix. Or, develop a method of mobility which would be sustainable through all evolutions and stages of Ralts' development.

Ash had chosen the second.

"So we're going to work on teleport, it took you a lot of focus previously, we need to make it quicker."

Ralts nodded, the connection flaring as it had previously when Ash had asked his starter about training. Agreement.

The next hour was spent with Ralts teleporting to designated areas Ash pointed towards. At first, it took dozens upon dozens of seconds for the psychic to snap away to the location. Ash assumed it would become better as time went on, but instead it became worse. By the forty-five minute mark, the Ralts was shaking with exertion and taking nearly taking minutes before teleporting.

Ash had offered to stop training, but the psychic connection made the emotion of refusal abundantly clear. Ash smiled, he was a stubborn Pokemon. At the hour mark, just as he was about to halt Ralts the Pokemon collapsed to a heap after completing a particularly lengthy teleport. Ash scrambled towards him, scooping him up, cursing his laxness. He should have forced the issue and made Ralts stop when it was clear the Psychic was exhausted.

"He's a stubborn one, eh? Kind of like his trainer." spoke a voice Ash didn't wish to hear spoke. Not receiving a response, the voice continued, "Don't worry, he'll be fine, just exhausted."

Ash visibly relaxed at this, but still just stared warily towards the man in front of him, Professor Oak.

"Of course, you won't truly know its gender until the psychic connection between the two of you is formed to such a point where it can fully communicate."

"Does the gender of Ralts even matter?" Ash questioned, his curiosity getting the best of him. Within other species, the differences in temperament between gender was well documented, however, there was no real info about Gardevoir.

"Not in any sense I know of, although I'm not an expert on the Ralts line- you'd be hard pressed to find one."

Ash nodded. "Why are you here?"

Oak didn't answer immediately, instead of reaching into his lab pockets and drawing out a Pokeball still covered with the silicone wrapping from the factory, "I seemed to have forgotten to give you one of these when I sent Alakazam here."

Ash took the proffered ball and stowed it in his jacket pocket.

"I've also left some basic traveling supplies back with Lucretia at the orphanage, the rest will be up to you to provide for with trainer stipends,' Oak grimaced, "If you ever need help, don't be afraid to ask."

Ash continued to just stare towards the treeline, silent.

"Good luck, Ash," Oak spoke remorsefully, before starting his limping gait back towards the lab.

"Professor Oak." Ash said causing Oak to around, his face cautiously hopeful, at least the boy was talking, "I will find out who my parents were, I will find out the secrets you've kept from me."

Oak let out a long sigh. It was highly unlikely the boy would be able to find out classified league secrets, or discern who his parents were. Nonetheless, Oak had made a great many sacrifices to shield the boy from those who knew the secrets he sought. Now Ash, to find the truth he sought, would have to go back to those who Oak had been protecting him from.

It was worthless theorizing about it anyways, the day Ash would be close to discovering the truth would not be soon. Oak had time to prepare in case the worst came to pass.

The elderly man did not respond and just continued walking.

Ash looked inwards as the aging man with the odd gait strode away from him and felt conflicted. On one hand, the man had taught him, and all prospective trainers of the village everything they knew, he had been a lifelong role model for Ash. On the other hand, he had kept an integral piece of Ash's life away from him for over a decade under the flimsy excuse as protection.

There were precious few people who could threaten Professor Oak, a retired Champion level battler. Oak never talked about his battling career, only his research, but Ash had scoured news articles and old battle tapes and to his shock, Oak had not only been a battler but one of the best.

The sorrow and regret the man held were palpable, but it didn't excuse the lies Ash had been told throughout his entire life.

Ralts shifted in his arms moving Ash's thoughts back to the present. The trainer quickly stripped the silicone wrapping off of the Pokeball and tapped the button against Ralts' chest. The red beam was visible for only a second before absorbing the small psychic type. The Pokeball hardly shook before coming to a rest. Ash smiled. Pokemon healed quicker in the stasis a Pokeball provided, Ralts would doubtlessly be awake in a few hours.

The trainer, unable to help himself, double checked his trainer profile, ensuring all the events over the past two days hadn't been a cruel joke.

With a smile, Ash looked down towards the Pokeball which stored Ralts,

"We leave tomorrow."

* * *

Who knew it was so hard to pack belongings?

As a boy who had never owned anything other than a few sets of hand-me-down clothes, the collection of materials in front of him were astounding. Oak hadn't exactly told the truth when he said he had left 'a few' training supplies back at the orphanage.

There was a set of leather battling gear which offered more protection for the wild- Ash wouldn't need it at this juncture in his journey, but perhaps once he began to face more worrisome Pokemon.

A fully stocked med-kit filled with the basic potions, but even a couple rare Full Restores were present as well. A full tent set up, and the 'deluxe' version of prepared trainer meals was present, much to Ash's dismay. Those meals would be the death of him.

After finally managing to stuff everything within the pack, Ash walked down the steps which led to the foyer of the orphanage. It would be dishonest to say the orphanage or Pallet had ever felt like a home to him, but Lucretia had always treated him well.

Indeed, it was almost enough to make Ash feel guilty for sneaking off in the dark hours of early morning in order to avoid Lucretia's certain wrath over his ruined clothes(even though that was not Ash's fault), and doubtlessly her attempts to prevent him from leaving before the other was no real reason to stay here, besides Ash would take any advantage he could get when it came to staying a step ahead of Gary.

Leaving early, selfish reasons excluded, was the obvious choice for the trainer.

The sound of a creaking floorboard behind him caused Ash's heart to stop, his head involuntarily swirled around coming face to face with the one person he didn't wish to meet at this time of the morning. The trainer's reaction was one of comedy. His hand had been caught in the cookie jar.

Lucretia was a stout, short woman with harshly tanned skin which stretched across her face, not unlike leather. She always seemed to have a stern, harsh expression on her face but on the contrary, she was one of the most vibrant people he knew- except when you crossed her.

And he had crossed her.

"What's the meaning of this, Ashton?" Lucretia innocently questioned, so much so Ash knew immediately it was a trap.

"Uh…" Ash stumbled, "I was just packing for the leaving ceremony, wanted to make sure I had everything in order."

The trainer gulped as Lucretia stared him down, that lie sounded horrible even to himself, to his shock the woman instead allowed a grin to stretch across her worn face, "You are the worst liar I've ever met Ashton."

"How many times do I have to tell you my name is Ash! Not Ashton!" Ash complained.

"I don't want to hear it, shut up and give ole' Lucretia a hug, boy." The matron admonished, and Ash was all too happy to comply, his body being crushed by some inhuman strength all woman seemed to possess when hugging.

Maybe there was something of home in Pallet, after all.

* * *

Oak glanced around noting the multitude of gathered families fawning over their children, the day was barely dawning, but it was a tradition for trainers to have an early start to their journey. Nearly every prospective trainer was gathered here, including his grandson who stood surily next to him, anxious to be off.

Ash had decided to make up for his lateness in arriving to the exams, to the extreme and had left two days prior, two days before the ceremony, according to Lucretia. Oak was rather disappointed about it, but there was nothing to be done, and the old man didn't blame him for his decision either.

As per usual Oak would be giving a short speech which was a modified version of the League's typical enforced speech. Trainers were the future of the world, and although very few continued with that path further in, the experience gained from it was invaluable in all walks of life. Oak took a deep breath, preparing the initial words in his head when he was bumped into rather abruptly.

"Watch where you're standing next time old ma-" The man garbed in a black suit with silver hair braided behind his head was considerably out of place in Pallet, his words had immediately cut off when he saw Oak's face.

The silver-haired man cleared his throat, "My apologies, Professor, I was actually looking for you- I was wondering if I might have a few quick words with you."

"As long as it isn't as rough as that shove you gave me." Oak sardonically responded, he was often mistaken for a senile aging man nowadays, not that such a designation was entirely false, he granted.

The man smiled politely at the poor joke, the expression fading away to a grim seriousness, "I was wondering if I could give a speech to these trainers prior to them embarking on their journey- this would be accompanied by a sum donated to your laboratory of course."

'And who would you be?" These thinly veiled bribes were fairly common, especially in larger towns where companies wished to advertise new technology, training equipment and the like. Pallet had very rarely had such offers before, however, due to the remoteness and population size.

"I come on behalf of the Rocket Organization, I'm sure you've heard of us before." Oak had been absent from mainstream life for many years, but the news of the Rocket Organization's rapid expansion had reached even him. There were some mumblings of activity that wasn't exactly legal, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary from large corporations. You rarely became that large without secrets of some kind.

Normally Oak would decline these offers outright, but he decided to give the man a chance for once, it could be beneficial to these kids and the town. "I'll tell you what, talk with me after this at my laboratory, and we may be able to work something out for the future."

Oak didn't know enough about the organization to make a determination, but it would be irresponsible to outright deny an organization which could doubtlessly assist many of the inhabitants of Pallet. The town sorely lacked the internship and theoretical education students in more developed reaches of Kanto did.

Oak did his best to educate the children, but there was only so much one man could do.

The silver-haired man grimaced, a slightly apologetic expression on his face, "You do realize this is not a request, right? It's easier if you just go along with it- for all parties involved."

Oak was flabbergasted for a moment at the threat, before his face hardened, "I think it's best if you took your leave, son."

The man was likely just doing his job, trying to convince the Professor to allow him to speak, but still, these threats were borderline ridiculous. The man spread open his suit coat allowing Oak to see a set of six Pokeballs attached to some type of mechanism on the inside of the coat, "I'd like to iterate again, this is not a request."

Oak sighed and grew a tad more concerned. Were this one man's poor threats and extortion indicative of the entire company? If so, how had the league allowed them to grow so large?

The silver-haired man not receiving an answer reached inside his suit pocket before slumping over and almost instantaneously being teleported away.

"Be gentle, Alakazam," Oak muttered, despite knowing his psychic had already derived that from his thoughts.

That encounter was concerning- Alakazam would have some answers after examining the surface thoughts of the man, which was the most the majority of psychics could do without permanently damaging the patient's consciousness

Oak, no obvious threat or answers forthcoming straightened his posture, turning towards the many assembled families before him, clearing his throat and spoke;

"The trainer's journey is the starting point of all…"

* * *

Ash sat next to a green, mushroom-topped pokemon next to a smoking campfire. The trainer was staring intently at a foil bag which was placed on a rack above the fire.

"You're lucky you don't have a sense of smell, Ralts."

Ralts seemed amused, although Ash was never truly sure- although the emotions seemed to become clearer each day. The trainer wasn't sure if it was the Pokemon refining the connection, the connection itself advancing, or the trainer merely growing more accustomed to the emotional impulses from the Pokemon.

Ash continued staring at the bag from which a very interesting smell emanated from.

Prepackaged Trainer Meals.

His favorite.

During his courses prior to becoming a trainer, it was a requirement that each trainer must survive a simulated camping experience for a week. It would have been unremarkable if it wasn't for the Prepackaged Trainer Meals and their aftermath. Ash grinned at the memory of Gary groaning and clutching his stomach as the food did its best to leave his stomach in the quickest method possible.

That memory would have been more amusing if Ash hadn't also been keeled over in pain as he watched Gary.

Ash jerked back suddenly, shocked out of his stupor as the trainer meal, now levitating, was placed in front of his face.

"Thank you, Ralts, very helpful," Ash said sarcastically.

The trainer hesitantly picked up his spoon and scooped up a small amount of the meal, forcing the spoon ever closer to his substance seemed just to melt into a flavorless gob with the consistency of melted rubber as soon as it made contact with his tongue.

So much for the glorious life of a trainer, he grinned.

Ash awoke early, determined to make it to Viridian City by nightfall. At this pace, he was a day, if not a tad more, ahead of his peers. Deciding to forego breakfast after recalling the gag-inducing meal he had eaten last night the trainer made quick work of the Camp, suffocating the campfire.

"The same thing as yesterday Ralts, practice teleporting alongside me for the first stretch of the walk. After that, we'll stop for a while and try something new."

Ralts' speed when teleporting was only fractionally improving, but it was progressing. Stamina, on the other hand, seemed to be increasing rapidly. Since the time between teleports was obviously going to be a long term project Ash had thought of a new way to add mobility to Ralts: alternating the height of his levitation.

In the heat of battle, being able to change height with minimal effort would be a boon for the immobile psychic type, whether throwing off the opponent, dodging attacks, the possibilities were many. Of course, levitation was very limited, and changing the height any meaningful amount would require lots of training.

Running away from Gary almost daily throughout his childhood seemed to have paid off, even after the trainer recalled Ralts once the pokemon had tired the trainer made good time, each step taken a step in front of Gary.

* * *

"Remember," Ash muttered his voice almost inaudible as he crept through the overflowing bramble of grass, weeds, and sparse trees which grew alongside portions of Route 1, "We're aiming to disable here, we don't want to risk seriously injuring the first Pokemon we see."

Ralts' tell-tale sign of mental agreement flashed in Ash's head. The trainer didn't even have to focus anymore to divine some emotions Ralts was attempting to emulate. "There shouldn't be any extremely dangerous Pokemon around these parts, but keep your eyes out."

Pokemon were not inherently cruel creatures, Ash liked to think, but for some, there was no better way to explain it. Fearow, Beedrill, and even Spearow were responsible for dozens of trainer deaths a year.

For the next couple hours Ash and Ralts crept North through the thicket, exercising extreme caution to avoid any potentially harmful wild Pokemon. It was odd, Ash thought, to not find anything. Not a Spearow, Pidgey, or even a Rattata.

Maybe catching his second Pokemon, which the trainer needed in order to defeat the stone type gym leader, was not meant to be.

As a strong wind rose, the boy sat, his back coming to rest against a solid tree, relishing the cooling breeze. "This is just weird, Ralts." Ash commented as he opened a protein bar, breaking off a small piece and offering it to Ralts who didn't take the offering, "Your loss buddy, but as I was saying, we must be over halfway to Viridian by now and we haven't spotted so much as one Pokemon." Ash said, moving the disregarded piece towards his mouth, before pausing as the wind shifted directions carrying with it a smell.

The most horrible smell Ash had ever experienced assaulted his senses. The trainer gagged, but he immediately recognized what the smell was. Deathly conflict on Oak's flora was incredibly rare, but for some territorial Pokemon such as Tauros- it was almost impossible to completely eliminate their most feral instincts. Deaths were not unheard of, and Ash had stumbled across a decaying Pokemon a multitude of times.

This smell was similar to that but amplified to the moon. The smell seemed to entirely consume his mind. Ash rapidly covered the bottom portion of his face with his shirt, removing the severity of the smell but certainly not removing all of it.

Ralts, lacking the sense of smell Ash did, merely seemed confused by his trainer's reaction, likely not able to divine enough from their budding psychic connection yet. The trainer, some of his previous caution disregarded, moved quickly through the brambles, heading closer to where the smell originated from.

Finally, he heard the crushing of a leaf, and he paused, peering towards where the sound came from. The trainer was debating turning around in all honesty, the smell of death was so fetid whatever it was originating from must have been decomposing for a number of days. As such, the Pokemon which caused it was hopefully gone.

Hopefully.

Ash shook off his misgivings and continued peering through the branches and making his way closer. The trainer saw a flash of gold, and instantly he knew what the Pokemon was.

A Vulpix, this far South? Their packs roamed the North, normally.

Ash wasn't complaining, however, it was his first week as a trainer and he was potentially going to catch something more than a mere rodent. Ash swiveled his head around, where had that Vulpix gone?

Ralts suddenly twitched, the psychic connection flaring, and Ash swung his body around just in time to see the leaping Vulpix, jaws open towards the trainer. Ash tried to dive out of the way, holding his forearm in front of his face.

The golden fire type clenched its fangs around the trainer's forearm, easily penetrating through jacket and skin causing Ash to cry out in pain. The trainer tried to grip the golden dog around the snout and pull- to release the pressure of the bite, but the Vulpix would not relent.

Suddenly, the pressure was relieved, and the snout of the Vulpix's mouth opened wider and wider- this was not natural if it opened any wider the dog's jaw would certainly snap.

"Enough, Ralts!" The trainer received an impression from Ralts he had never felt before. Ash didn't spare much thought to it in the heat of battle, but was it disagreement from the Pokemon?

"Ralts, hold it in place." Ash stared towards the Vulpix, his off hand caressing the bleeding bite marks on his right arm, "You got the jump on me, huh?" A growl, a hint of pride present, emanated from the Vulpix.

Ash laughed, "Don't get too confident there, look where you are now."

The Vulpix growled angrily, muscles straining against Ralts' psychic hold. This barrier of movement was not sustainable for much longer. He had wanted to get the Pokemon to agree to come with him, but the trainer had never dealt with a naturally aggressive Pokemon such as a Vulpix and wasn't sure if he could.

Quickly, the trainer reached to his belt and selected one of his three empty, unexpanded Pokeballs, which he threw at the Vulpix.

It contacted the still target, and slowly absorbed the fire type. Ash winced, the Vulpix was very obviously struggling- the ball hadn't even shaken once yet.

If the Pokemon escaped, Ralts and he may have to run, his starter's abilities were not well suited to combatting a Vulpix, yet.

_Crack_

The ball snapped open in a flash of red light, the two halves of the ball rolling impotently on the forest floor. Ash gulped. He had been temporarily blinded by the red flash and by the time his eyes had cleared the Pokemon was gone.

"Ralts, double team." The psychic was too much of a standing target and the two forms created would be nearly indistinguishable from each other in the setting sunlight.

The only sounds were infrequent underbrush being trampled on, always at the very edge of Ash's hearing, it was driving him mad. Suddenly, a flash of fire spurted out from the branches towards the real form of Ralts, making direct contact with the psychic.

Ember.

Ralts' levitation faltered as the Vulpix rushed directly towards the psychic.

"Ralts, teleport, watch out!" Ash called out. The psychic's teleportation took precious seconds, but noticeably shorter than it had been when he had clashed with Gary's Squirtle just days prior.

The psychic reappeared in front of Ash, tired, but not finished from what the trainer could tell. The Vulpix swiveled around in confusion, locking onto Ralts once again, forming another ember within its snout. Ash grimaced, Ralts was not ready to be battling pokemon such as Vulpix- they were not supposed to be this far South.

The Vulpix rushed towards the psychic once again, the fire growing within its mouth, leaping into the air and preparing to unleash the substantially larger flame towards Ash's starter. The Vulpix must be close to maturing a flamethrower attack, Ash observed internally, ember was not supposed to be that large.

There was simply not enough time to react and after a day full of training and covering ground, Ralts did not have enough power to sustain this fight for much longer anyhow. Running was the best bet.

Fierce denial resonated within Ash's connection with his starter, and suddenly the fire, just seconds away from being released from Vulpix's mouth was frozen in mid-air, along with the fire type. The fire attack strained against the now visible pink psychic barrier in front of it, bending it in ever so barrier snapped with a resounding crack, but instead of the attack continuing towards Ralts iit shot upwards into the trees.

The next sound Ash heard was one unlike any other, a fierce keening imbued with anger filled the air, followed by the flaps of hundreds upon hundreds of wings. Ash's heart stopped, and his blood froze.

A Spearow flock, led by a Fearow.

The trees around him became alive, the flapping of dozens upon dozens of wings filled the air, and Ash's blood turned to stone.

Ash immediately recalled Ralts, turning to sprint away before he remembered about the Vulpix. The fire type was staring up into the sky- motionless, seemingly terrified. In a split second Ash's decision was made, he raced back to the dog, scooping it up into his arms, and sprinted out towards where he thought the path resumed.

The air around him was filled with the sound of flapping wings and angry keeling, combining to form a single terrifying melody. There were precious few things a starter trainer in the southern reaches of Kanto feared more than a hoard of angered Spearow.

Spearow, in general, were not angry creatures, although they were territorial- when they were led by a Fearow, however, their temperament became much worse. Not that the knowledge of that was of much import to Ash in his current predicament.

Ash was reminded of his many afternoons spent scurrying away from Gary, seeking the refuge of the forest. Now, however, his refuge was civilization a handful of miles away, and his hellhole was the forest.

Soon enough the motion of running soothed Ash's nerve, the dread the flock of Spearow filling the air above him inspired was pushed aside as the familiar motion swept all concern to the side. That was until, just as he had weeks prior with Gary, Ash tripped, and consciousness made itself all too known to him once again.

And suddenly, everything made sense.

Ash had not tripped- he had slid, he had initially thought it was mud, but the smell- the smell was not of mud. All around Ash, in the sparsely lit forest, the last sunlight filtering through the trees was what he had smelled early, and explained why Vulpix was still motionless in fright within his arms. An entire pack of Vulpix slaughtered, tiny peck marks present on the hides of some, on others there were only bones and tendon left. Skulls were left without eyes. Ribs lay discarded on the ground, and entrails were spread around like confetti.

Ash felt the bile rise within his mouth, but he forced himself to continue running. The motion which had swept his concern aside previously, was gone, however, and he struggled mightily to move his legs which seemed to grow heavier with each step. Dread set in around Ash, and as he looked to the sky he was met with the glaring red eyes of a Fearow, swooping straight towards him.

Ash crumpled to the ground managing to dodge the outstretched talons of the predator, it cried out angrily as it swept up towards the sky once again. At least he wouldn't be an easy meal for this creature Ash grimly thought, preparing to continue running, pulling himself to his feet, mindful of Vulpix's form.

At least, Ash had thought he wouldn't be an easy meal, in his single-minded attention to avoiding the Fearow, the trainer had forgotten about the dozens, if not hundreds, of other birds in the air.

A seemingly thousand tiny impacts crashed into the trainer's back, the small, sharp beaks failing to penetrate his jacket, but the impact causing him to fall to his knees, cradling the Vulpix in his arms.

Ash could feel the intent glare of the Fearow sear into his back, as it crowed out triumph, doubtlessly circling around above him awaiting the perfect moment to end it.

Ash wished he had not been as attentive a student as he was- Fearow rarely gave their prey a quick death, they liked to play with their prey. Usually, they started with the eyes.

Ash felt his belt, ensuring the Pokeball with Ralts in it was safe- at least he would not let down his mother's Gardevoir. Only if he could have caught the Vulpix earlier, then the fire type would be spared from this certain slow, painful death.

To Ash's shock, the Vulpix began to scurry, attempting to free itself from beneath Ash's body. _Even he knows I'm screwed_, Ash laughed internally to a substantial degree of effort, from the bruises which doubtlessly covered his back, Ash managed to lift himself up and allow the Vulpix to escape.

The dog did not attempt to escape, however, instead it began shooting small embers into the air, striking the occasional Spearow, but doing no serious damage from such a distance.

"Run away, you idiot." Ash coughed, his voice scratchy. He was rather thirsty.

Ash flipped himself onto his back, intending to stare up towards his death. It was rather beautiful, you could be forgiven for believing the sky had been transformed into a writhing mass of amber and white feathers. Ash closed his eyes as the flock dove once again, this time towards both he and Vulpix. All those lofty dreams, only to be ruined by a stupid flock of birds, Ash thought to himself.

What would his parents think of him? What would Oak think of him? What would Gary think of him?

As the Spearow descended onto the Vulpix and the trainer, the air was filled with a sudden oppressive, dark aura. The constant pain Ash had felt was gone.

Was this death?

A rough, sandpaper tongue lapping against Ash's cheek did a rather thorough job at convincing Ash that he was not, in fact, dead. Sputtering the boy jerked away, the trainer brushed his hand against his lips and felt nothing.

The Pokemon in front of him was not Vulpix, it stood significantly taller, and had a scythe protruding from its head, and an ethereal mane of white fur which reflected the starlight.

Wait- starlight? The trainer's head swiveled towards the sky, and saw only stars, then heard a murmured command before being welcomed with blessed blackness.

* * *

Ash stirred, his head spinning as consciousness rapidly returned. He attempted to lift himself up, but fell backward into a pair of nimble hands, holding him up.

"Rest easy," a soft voice whispered, "You'll need to take it easy for a bit longer, you're still weak."

The trainer glanced blearily around, noticing the person who had helped him up was a girl. Ash gratefully relaxed back against the sleeping bag he had been slumped on when he had awoken. Ash felt for Ralts' pokeball and felt even further relief upon finding it still attached to his belt. The Vulpix which had stood against death alongside him earlier was slumped in a deep slumber next to the campfire, a multitude of bandages wrapped around the fire type.

"How are you feeling," the girl asked drawing his attention back towards her.

She was older than him, Ash guessed. Loose silvery hair framed a heart-shaped, youthful face which seemed to glow in the dusk. Green eyes peered out from beneath an oversized cap with a large R logo emblazoned onto it. She was beautiful. The thing which stood out the most to Ash, however, was the six pokeballs strapped to her belt.

Ash brushed a hand across his face, "Well, I'm alive, and I guess that's thanks to you?"

The girl smiled a bit, shifting in place, "Sort of, I stopped that Fearow from… you know." She trailed off before continuing, "I patched up that Vulpix, I assume it's yours, but I couldn't find another Pokeball."

Ash laughed grimly, "Yeah, I know and thank you for patching up the Vulpix, I was actually trying to capture it, but as you can see- we had bigger fish to fry."

The girl nodded absentmindedly, twisting her hat's bill around in her hands, staring into the fire. Ash peered at the hat, emblazoned on the front was a large R logo.

"What's the logo on that hat?" Ash asked, trying to interrupt the silence.

"Do you not recognize it?" The girl's eyes were focused, staring intently at Ash.

"No, should I?"

The girl's sudden tenseness relaxed, and she laughed, "If you're telling the truth you may be the only one who doesn't know what the logo stands for."

Ash, his curiosity on the logo not sated nonetheless put the matter to the side, taking a deep breath, or as much as a deep breath as he could with the bruises on his back. He leaned back, resting on his elbows.

"Well," Ash said, "Thank you, I guess, I am Ash, by the way."

The girl glanced up, "I'm Ariana."

* * *

Ash awoke to the smell of cooked meat. He sat up, staring around the makeshift campsite, noticing the split meat cooling over the remnants of the campfire. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"You slept for a while," Ariana answered, "You must have taken quite a beating before the Spearow were taken care of."

Ash simply nodded.

"What are you doing out here so far anyway" Ariana looked up from the device she was typing it into, it appeared to be a slightly different model of the Pokedex he himself possessed. "These parts aren't exactly tame, and you've only got one Pokemon."

"You're right," Ash nodded somewhat abashedly, "I got carried away tracking down a Vulpix, they aren't exactly common around these parts. Anyways, where are you headed to, Ariana?"

Ash asked, seeking to change the subject from his own shortcomings.

"I am not really headed anywhere in specific," Ariana looked away, pausing, "I just like to travel, see interesting things."

Did she just refer to something interesting being this far South?

"Are you going to see Oak's flora or something?" Ash asked, the words leaving his mouth quickly, unable to think of anything else remotely interesting this far in the southern reaches of Kanto.

"Yeah, actually," she looked interested once again, "that was actually on my list of places, do you know the Professor well?"

Oak's warning echoed in his head: _You have no reason to trust me, but this is of the most importance: do not under any circumstance reveal your connection to me or Pallet Town._

Ash was sorely tempted to reveal to the pretty, older teen that he was, in fact, familiar with the sage Professor Oak, but nonetheless, he had promised to himself that he would not betray his parents, and Oak had said this was important.

"No," Ash swallowed, 'I saw it once when I was little, though."

"Mm," the girl nodded, "I have a friend there I've been meaning to catch up with." She returned to her typing for a moment, before snapping the case shut and glancing up to Ash, "How long have you been trying to gain that Vulpix's trust?"

"I met it yesterday- about ten minutes before the Fearow tried to eat us, it gave me and Ralts a tough battle."

The girl's eyebrow quirked. Only met the Vulpix yesterday, and this boy possessed a Ralts, that was interesting, "Well, she's obviously already taken to you, she would hardly let me tend to your injuries before she passed out. That's impressive, they are usually strong-willed."

"Well," Ash absentmindedly scratched the still sleeping Vulpix behind the ears, noting he had to see if the Vulpix really did wish to journey alongside him, "She was the last survivor of her pack, I think, and near death experiences usually bond people and Pokemon together, right?'

"That may have something to do with it," Ariana agreed, but it was clear she had her reservations, "Anyways, it is dangerous out here, as I'm sure you've noted- there's strength in numbers, would you like to accompany me to Pallet Town?"

"I can't." Ash spoke, genuine regret in his voice "I need to get to training if I'm to beat the Pewter Gym and stay on schedule."

Ariana peered at him for a moment, before she smiled. "Alright, then, it was nice meeting you, Ash, I have to stay on schedule as well."

Ash was rather shocked at how quickly she had seemingly accepted the answer. The girl stood, her belongings seemingly already packed, and abruptly turned to leave, before she paused, looking at Ash.

She spoke before Ash could formulate a response to her prior statement, "You know, it is rumored in some places an Absol's tongue can bring the deceased back amongst the living?" Her voice seemed much more silvery, "perhaps such a folktale is not as far from the truth as I thought, hm?"

Ash stood with some difficulty. An Absol, she had said. He had never heard of one. Suddenly the same dark feeling which had overcome the field moments before Ash had been smote by the flock of Spearow made itself known. From behind the girl's slender form a white form shrouded in shadows stalked slowly from the brushes, leveling a stoic stare towards the boy. White, shaggy fur, covered a muscular body, and a massive black scythe protruded from the head of the creature. Black eyes which seemed to bore on endlessly, glanced at Ash, before curling up around his owner's feet.

"Goodbye, Ariana, and thank you," Ash spoke, staring at the creature which had saved his life.

"I think we'll see each other again, I don't save just any trainer's life, ya know?" Ariana smirked, and without further ado strode into the forest.

* * *

A trill ringing echoed around a dingy, smoke-filled room. A large man, muscles bulging beneath his shirt was slumped over, his head resting against a stained plaster wall, a forgotten cigarette snub being worried between two yellow teeth.

"Fucking hell." The man stood shakily, stumbling against a wooden desk and knocking the device emanating the ringing sound to the floor. Cursing, he stooped to the ground, picking it up, and glanced at the screen.

The man's posture changed immediately, he straightened his back, hastily tried to sweep fingers through his hair in a poor imitation of a comb, before he sighed, clicking a large finger against a green on-screen button.

On the screen a face materialized, silver hair framed emerald green eyes which glared with a frightening intensity towards the man. Around the woman came the ambient sounds of a forest, and the forest canopy was visible above her.

"Ariana, what can I do for you?" The man rasped.

"There is a boy coming your way-"

"There are many boys coming my way, I'd imagine." The man scoffed, cutting off Ariana.

"Do you think I'd take time out of my mission to call a mangy drunk recruiter for any boy, you imbecile?" Ariana's eyes flashed dangerously, "As I was saying, the teen's name is Ash, and he has two rather rare Pokemon, a Ralts and a Vulpix."

The man raised a single shoulder before letting it fall, "Rare, but hardly worth a personal call, I know my job, do you want me to recruit him, or snag them Pokemon?"

The girl grimaced, "That's why I called actually, I need you to do neither- you must allow him to pass through Pewter unbothered."

The man's expression grew confused, "That's against all protocol, I can't just-"

"You certainly can, and you will. We both know who is next in line for Operator." The man still looked unconvinced, "I might just overlook a few inconsistencies in your reports if you can do me this favor, Gerald."

The man's fists clenched angrily but did not allow any emotion to appear on his face or within his response, "Fine. I'll let him pass."

"Thank you, Gerald, brush your teeth, would you?"

The screen flickered off, and the man known as Gerald slumped back to the ground, his back resting against the plaster once again. He reached to his belt, drawing a red Pokeball out, and looked at it fondly.

"That bitch ain't an Operator yet, eh Houndie?" He smiled savagely, "Recruiting ain't been the same since fuckin' Lance has gotten involved anyways."

* * *

**A/N:**Team Rocket, as of now at least, is not seen as a particularly evil organization, this is on the precipice of changing, however.

Yes, Ariana is the Team Rocket Ariana, however, is very very different from how usually shown.


	5. Chapter 5

Oak's focused with a puzzled expression at the man who was restrained within a psychic construct courtesy of his Alakazam. The man had tried to bribe him, and had resorted to threats when it was clear Oak would not blindly accept.

He had been relieved of his Pokeballs, and Alakazam had scanned his surface thoughts, the most a psychic could do without risking permanent damage. There was nothing especially damning.

The Professor was half tempted to release the man, there was no overly serious cause(Alakazam was quick to interject mentally with several crimes the man was guilty of) to hold him for longer. Oak's thought process continued unperturbed, however, while technically the town was entirely under his own jurisdiction jailing a young, admittedly misguided man did not sell well with the aging professor.

However, some things could not be helped.

"Rouse him, Alakazam." Oak spoke, his voice gravelly with age. The silver haired man jerked awake, instantly straining against his psychic bonds before acknowleding he was restrained and relaxing into the metal chair, drawing in deep breaths. He glanced around, noticing the professor, and scoffing in disgust.

"I apologize for the discomfort." Oak began, "There's no real reason for me to detain you, however, I do wish you would reconsider-"

Oak's sentence was abruptly cut off as his mind flashed with rapid, almost incomprehensible thoughts from Alakazam, and the aging man jerked around, staring out one of the windows overlooking the village. Plumes of smoke rose from the southern end of the town, near the harborside.

The silver-haired man, despite the restraints was now openly grinning, "You damned senile fool," the man paused, spitting at the Professor's feet, "_They_ will come for me, old man, save your rustic little village some trouble and let me go."

Oak did not deem the man with a response. Whoever set the fire had obviously intended to free the captive he had taken- judging by the man's reaction he certainly thought so as well.

So it was a ruse, then. That did not mean, however, that it was unworthy of concern. A fire that size left unchecked could burn for leagues unchecked amongst the mostly wooden houses of Pallett.

The once decisive and fearsome trainer's dormant instincts took over once again, as he turned towards Alakazam, his mental commands flowing through the mental connection as soon as they were formed within his mind.

'_Pidgeot, cordon off the fire, prevent it from spreading further with your whirlwinds. Blastoise, begin putting out the fires, try to be gentle with the water cannons please." _

The Professor was not overly concerned, if the person who had come to free the man chained next to him was anywhere remotely close to the man's skillset it would be a simple trifle to deal with. Not for a moment did the Professor think calling in any of his other teammates would be necessary.

The aging man strode off, leaving Alakazam with instructions to safeguard the prisoner, to which the moustached Pokemon nodded sagely, masking the room's door in an illusion, and settling into meditation.

Exiting the lab the professor drew his fingers to his mouth, whistling an exorbitantly loud note throughout the flora and surrounding forest. In hardly an instant, accompanied by a gale of wind which caused the professor to lose his balance for a moment, a massive canine stood in front of the Professor a tongue softly lolling from the side of his mouth.

A soft smile graced Oak's wrinkled face, years upon years with his friend and a more regal creature the Professor did not think existed. The massive dog crouched down, allowing the aging professor to nimbly reach his back, where Oak pressed his chest down, grabbing fist fulls of fur to secure himself. Oak's back hurt, he was getting old, or was he already old? It seemed like just yesterday he was merely on the precipice of age.

"Arcanine, my friend, let us be off."

* * *

"Hey, you bearded fuck face, they're coming for me- you hear?" the man restrained in the seat hollered for the umpteenth time at the psychic.

Alakazam noticed the shouting, but it had no impact on its meditation, and it quickly disregarded it as unimportant.

The psychic had absolute trust in its master- Oak was the epitome of what the human race was capable of. All humans, however, were capable of mistakes, and Alakazam believed its trainer had potentially made one- at the very least had taken an unneeded risk. It would have been a simple trifle to rally the other members of the team from the various locations around the flora. Oak had deemed it unnecessary, however, and Alakazam did not question his master's orders.

Alakazam, for its part, was ignoring the man who had finally forsaken his futile attempts to disturb it from its meditative state. Instead, the psychic was monitoring the life forces around Pallett. Indeed, this was one of the things Alakazam did most frequently in her freetime- once a psychic type had reached full maturity, or near to it, as Alakazam had, the most important development was to expand one's awareness. Truly powerful psychics could spread their awareness over hundreds, perhaps thousands of people and Pokemon- and Alakazam was no exception. His awareness could encapsulate the entirety of Pallett, and then some.

Of course, there were rumors of those who could cover entire regions. Alakazam was not convinced, however..

Try as he might, however, the Psychic could not locate any presence unfamiliar to his psychic awareness within Pallet town. There were precious few ways to shroud oneself from the sight of a psychic such as an Alakazam, but there were ways, however uncommon they may be.

It meant one of three things, the perpetrators had already escaped into the surrounding countryside, or forests, escaping the scope of Alakazam's perception. Or, they had a more powerful psychic who had the strength to cloak themselves from Oak's psychic- Alakazam considered this extremely unlikely, it took a substantially stronger psychic to be able to shroud oneself in another psychic's domain- and this was Alakazam's domain.

The last possibility was a dark type- but that would not account for the trainer who doubtlessly accompanied the Pokemon.

Unless, the Alakazam pondered, they were to willingly-

Almost as soon as the thought had been processed within Alakazam's mind, the illusion on the door was assailed and swiftly discarded by dark energies. Nothing else could dispel an illusion from a Psychic of his strength with such ease.

Alakazam's eyes flashed purple and a psychic shockwave was unleashed from the golden Pokemon, the man in the seat was instantly rendered unconscious, the windows blasted out in a flurry of microscopic pieces of glass, and the metal panelling on the walls crumpled ever slightly outwards.

Unless, Alakazam finished its prior thought, they were to willingly be attacked by dark energy.

The now destroyed door laid forgotten and crumpled in a heap of metal in the hallway outside the room. Alakazam's illusion had been dispelled by dark energy, it was only a matter of time now. The Pokemon sent a warning to his master, before opening his eyes which glowed purple with awe-inspiring power. It had the intuition this fight would require something more than just mental sight.

Alakazam's intuition was rarely wrong.

A hooded figure sat, hunched over against the back of a Rapidash, racing through the forest, in a very round about route towards the Professor's laboratory. The figure, cloaked by the shadows of the forest withdrew the Rapidash, before grasping another pokeball from her belt and pressing the button to release the pokemon stored within.

A crobat was unleashed, it cawed once, glancing at its trainer. The usual malice Crobats possessed seemed to be absent, and instead a cold intelligence was present beneath its cloaked trainer drew a sleeve up, revealing a slender and pale, although not unhealthily so forearm. Her mouth moved, the words she spoke unillegible to any other than crobat right next to her.

"Now, no objections." She spoke, her voice finally rising with exasperation. The Crobat looked towards the forearm with something resembling regret, and nearly incomprehensibly quick, a claw surrounded with some type of milky, inky black energy sliced downwards leaving a gash across the arm.

The trainer let out a femine, startled gasp as she stumped to a knee, before rising shakily. Crobat let out a distressed hiss, and flapped worriedly around the trainer, before the cloaked figure clicked the button to withdraw the hooded trainer pressed their lips against the Pokeball and whispered a few words before stowing it amongst their belt, next to five other red and white balls.

From the same belt the trainer withdrew a similar looking pokeball, and clicked the button to release the inhabitant. With a red flash the Pokemon appeared, but was obscured by the shadows cast by the fading sun's rays filtering through the forest canopy.

Alakazam stared stoically towards the entrance of the room, confident in the fact whoever the perpetrators were would be in shortly- they knew as well as he that the longer they waited the sooner Oak would be back, and very few individuals could hope to defeat his trainer. Of course, there was also the possibility that there was more than one individual.

Alakazam momentarily glanced out the window, only to see the fires substantially higher than what they were before, worriedly, the psychic wondered if its trainer was in some type of trouble.

That momentary lack of attention on Alakazam's part was nearly costly- a black scythe of energy sailed through the air at Alakazam. Alakazam's spoons instantaneously reacted to the Pokemon's will, bending slightly as a psychic shield was erected in front of the singular scythe. Alakazam noted apathetically that the shield was not effective against the dark move, which was not surprising given it was a psychic shield, but still- it was sufficient against most dark type attacks. This Pokemon must be a cut above most.

The pink shield remained translucent in the air, slowly bending inwards as the scythe was accompanied by a flurry of more shooting through the door frame.

Alakazam's eyes flared blindingly bright and dark energy which was running along the shield, crackling, seeking an opening was suddenly thrust back towards the door frame, impacting the opposite side of the hall with an explosion. Alakazam recoiled slightly at the power such a maneuver took.

It would have to apologize to his master for that damage.

Its adversaries were most certainly disabled, however, Alakazam was not without caution, maintaining the shield in front of him, looking for any signs of movement amongst the dust clouds. Ah, so that is what Alakazam had directed the energy into… Oak's personal library, only the dust accumulated from hundreds of disused books could cause such a cloud in an otherwise stainless steel, clean laboratory.

Hopefully it hadn't permanently damaged too many of the tomes.

Alakazam was forcefully wrenched from its thought process as a white furred beast leapt towards him through the doorway, covering a dozen feet in a single leap, the beast's scythe protruding from his head covered with the same black inky energy which had been expelled from the psychic's shield.

Alakazam slowed his perception of time, a trick experienced psychic types could use- at a cost, however. Oak's pokemon detachedly examined the scene, mentally counting the seconds before he would be forced to dodge the Absol's attack which was already slicing through the membranous pink shield the Alakazam had erected. It was not possible that Pokemon had managed to survive the reversal Alakazam had unleashed, there must be something more.

Ah, yes, visible behind within the slowly settling dust cloud stood a slender cloaked figure, six pokeballs on their belt.

Next to the trainer, slightly shorter than where the psychic assumed her waist would be beneath the cloak stood a stocky, purple pokemon, with blonde hair upraised, no doubt by the static energy a light screen would have produced, and blue eyes glowing bright through the dust.

A Jynx.

How droll, they were masters of shielding- that explained how the Absol and trainer had managed to weather the attack. This battle would be more difficult than the Alakazam had anticipated. Fortunately, Alakazam's mental awareness was no longer useless. Its perception expanded, counting the presences within the room. Only two of her six Pokemon had been unleashed, Jynx, and the Absol

The trainer would pay dearly for that foolhardy decision.

With a mental sigh, Alakazam noticed the scythe had almost reached his chest, and floated ever so slightly to the side, just out of the range of the beast's scythe. Time returned to normal and Alakazam flinched, that took more out of the psychic than it recalled. Perhaps it was, admittedly, a bit out of practice.

The Absol confusedly glanced around, before noticing the Alakazam mere feet next to him, calmly levitating in the air its spoons crossed, and eyes opened, glowing with a fierce pink energy.

The white haired beast circled around the Alakazam, a temporary stalemate brewing. Alakazam was not without his own tricks in combating dark types, but they were distinctly draining and uncomfortable for a psychic type.

Well, the psychic supposed it couldn't be helped. Alakazam broke the stalemate, a purple miasma of energy coalescing between the psychic's spoons. Dark energy was nearly impossible for psychics to channel as it wreaked havoc with the very control systems of the Pokemon.

Ghost energy, on the other hand, was possible. While it was unfamiliar and difficult to channel, it didn't have any negative impact on the Pokemon's psychic ability. Ghost energy was rather effective against dark types, however.

Spheres coalesced between the psychic's signature spoons, after forming the spheres began rotating around the Alakazam, faster and faster until it seemed as if there was simply a halo of purple around the pokemon.

The Absol watched stoically, its muscles taught ready to react to whatever the Alakazam's next move would be.

Alakazam watched with grim satisfaction as the Absol simply circled around, and the trainer which undoubtedly was undergoing a large dose of helplessness.

The psychic closed its eyes, as was necessary to properly channel the focus necessary to reach Professor Oak and notify him he would be able to stall, and to take his time. His eyes were closed for nary a second, but as he opened them, the Alakazam saw something incredible- and painful.

The Absol was mid leap through the air, encased in front of him was a half-sphere shaped blue barrier. Protect. Alakazam's mind processed everything in seconds. The Jynx had dropped its barrier around itself and the trainer, instead choosing to assist the Absol punch through the ghost-type barrier.

An admirable strategy, and at great personal risk for the trainer. Alakzam held a grudging respect for the trainer by now, but that wouldn't stop him from what he had to do. Alakzam's mind was processing events much quicker than his body could react, but thankfully, a psychic didn't need his body to react.

There was little to nothing he could do to prevent the Absol which was already leaping towards him, and piercing the ghostly veil around the psychic. The trainer, had made a mistake, however.

A spear of pure psychic energy manifested itself in the air nearly instantaneously alongside Alakazam's thoughts, and shot through the air towards the trainer's heart. Alakazam, however, was not the only psychic. Jynx, reacting as quickly as the weaker psychic could, pulled her trainer with psychic power out of the way- not fast enough, however.

The psychic energy pierced through the trainer's shoulder, splattering the wall around it with blood, and for a moment she simply hung from the wall, suspended by the psychic spear spearing her into the wall.

Jynx's preoccupation with saving her trainer had caused the Absol's protective barrier to collapse, and the ghostly energy around the Alakazam eagerly attacked the Pokemon, but it could not stop the white beast's momentum.

The inky blackness which swam across the scythe utop Absol's head in a sick imitation of a calm ocean's waves, suddenly became violent as the pokemon gashed into Alakazam's side, slicing through the Pokemon's golden exterior without problem.

Alakazam's levitation immediately faltered as the dark energies ran rampant through the psychic, but he was not done yet. That amount of dark energy would be enough to incapacitate almost any lesser psychic- but Alakazam was not once a champion level Pokemon without reason.

Oak's psychic blasted the Absol away from him, where he landed with a sickening crunch. With the last vestiges of energy, valiantly resisting the dark energy's overwhelming persistence to flow through its body, Alakzam summoned one by one, and with excruciating slowness relative to the psychic's near instantaneous powers earlier, a group of the same psychic spears it had used against the infiltrating trainer moments prior.

As the final spear was summoned into reality, the psychic breathed a sigh of relief, or as close to that as a psychic could, and prepared to release them from their bounds, towards the infiltrator and her Pokemon.

Suddenly, the thin golden hairs all around Alakazam's body stood on end, and he felt two pinpoint tingles in the back of his neck. The psychic's levitation almost immediately failed, and one of the most powerful psychic Pokemon alive fell to the ground, on its knees.

The mockery of a laugh which the gleeful Crobat unleashed was grating, so much so Alakazam felt one more swell of power overwhelm the combination of deadly poison and the dark energy coursing through his body, and unleashed one final spear.

Ariana watched with grim satisfaction as Crobat unleashed a fatal dose of poison into the Alakazam's system. She knew she had to escape, to get away before Oak inevitably dealt with the trap that had been set for him, she knew she had to free Petrel, but for some reason her body would not listen to her.

With an odd sense of deliriousness the petite trainer looked at her shoulder, noticing the slightly gaping hole which was gushing blood. She turned back towards her Crobat which let out a victorious screeching laugh, before noticing the situation its trainer was in, and with great flaps of its webbed wings, the purple, leathery pokemon started back towards her.

Ariana, deep in some recess of her mind screamed at her to move, but all she could think of was the day she met Crobat, or she should say Zubat. The bat had been an injured runt, discarded from the flock, or whatever the term was for the massive groups of Zubat which filled the caves beneath the earth.

She had nursed the cute little Pokemon back to health, but she had never expected him to deal the finishing blow on one of the most powerful Alakazam, perhaps ever. The beginnings of a delirious smile began to spread over the trainer's unnaturally pale face, only for it to be wiped off nearly instantly.

A pink bolt of energy, nearly faster than the eye could trace blazed through the air, cutting through the middle of Crobat, piercing through the usually psychic resistant hide.

"Crobat!" She cried out in despair.

One moment her Crobat had been flapping through the ruins of the lab- the next it was crumpled into a heap, a massive hole through the center of its body. Tears pooled in her eyes, as she couldn't bring herself to move, only to stare at the pool of blood- her own blood, slowly inching its way towards her pokemon.

She stared uncomprehendingly at one of her silver locks which had unearthed itself from her hood, running it between her fingers.

A hand against her shoulder jolted Ariana out of her shock. Sound returned in a rush, replacing the dull ringing which had filled her mind before.

It was Jynx. The pokemon pointed an oddly proportioned hand towards a black device which was emanating a buzzing sound a few feet away. It must have been dislodged from her belt sometime amongst the fight.

She stooped over, trying to pick it up with her injured arm, out of instinct, but sharp pain shot through her body at the mere attempt. She was unable to move her arm. With her other arm, she picked the device up, and a face materialized.

If you could call it a face, all one could see was the shrouded outline of one. He was simply called 'The Boss' by the grunts.

"Greetings, Ariana, I trust you have secured Petrel?" The voice was completely devoid of emotion, she wasn't sure if it was some type of electronic voice changer or if it was truly his voice. Nonetheless, it sent shivers down her spine.

"Yes, sir." Ariana had learned that the boss did not care for details, you either completed your task or you didn't- there was no in between.

"Wonderful," The man paused, turning away from the screen for a moment, although it was hard to tell what the man was doing given the artificial shadows in place. "There have been some complications, however." The man was speaking hurriedly, now, "Oak is close to dismantling our distraction, much quicker than we expected, extraction is too risky to attempt- you'll have to flee on foot."

Ariana, listened, while she attempted to stem the flow of blood with her other hand, the shock was wearing off and a dull, throbbing pain was spreading from her shoulder throughout her entire body.

Nonetheless, she remained focus, "And Petrel, sir?"

"Free Petrel, he'll be able to take care of himself."

Ariana nodded, and the screen went black. She returned her Pokemon, and looked blankly at the ruined corpse of her Crobat for a moment before turning to the destroyed room.

By some miracle, Petrel seemed to be hardly worse for wear, a few pieces of shrapnel were protruding from his arms, but nothing serious. Ariana quickly slapped him, jarring him awake.

He glanced around blearily for a moment before he turned to Ariana, noticing her for the first time, "Can't stay away from me, huh?" He smirked, although it lacked the usual cockiness.

Ariana simply glowered back, she was itching to leave, every second she seemed to grow more and more light headed.

"The Boss says you're on your own, no extraction."

Petrel nodded, much more business like, standing from his seat, before noticing the Alakazam curled up, unmoving on the ground. He grinned, "I'll be honest- I didn't know ya had it in you, Ariana."

He savagely kicked the prone, unmoving Alakazam in the stomach area, before he walked out of the ruined, crumbling wall. Turning back, seeming about to make a final parting comment, but heard a savage roar in the distance, and reconsidering, ran towards the exit.

Ariana could barely move without stumbling at this point. She had tried her best to stymie the flow of blood, but a shoulder wound was difficult to do so on.

Releasing her Rapidash, the trainer leapt on its back, and held on for dear life as the Pokemon sped towards the forest.

* * *

Oak had swiftly dealt with the fires. It was a rather poor distraction, or so he had thought.

The fires were contained to a few of the wooden southern district buildings. It was a simple matter to have Blastoise hose down the buildings. Of course, some would need to be rebuilt but it was nothing a few of his Machamp and Machoke couldn't finish in a couple of days. Alakazam had notified Oak of a disturbance back at the lab, but had said it was not urgent. Nonetheless Oak signaled to his Pidgeot to swoop down from the sky.

He wanted to get back there as soon as possible and find out was truly was going on. Someone had been foolish enough to have the temerity to attack his town, and Oak intended to find out who.

That was the intention, until a massive roar reverberated through the air, and Oak turned around, moving more quickly than he had in years. A colossal serpentine figure lanced out from the Cinnabar Ocean, which the Southern end of Pallet town bordered.

A massive wave surged from the creature's exit from the depths, surging towards the few fishing boats which were harbored, and the houses which stood on the harbor side.

Oak quickly recognized the Pokemon, there were precious few which he would fail to, after all. It was a Gyrados, they weren't known to be present in such shallow waters, but what was much more concerning to Oak was the red carapace that it possessed. He had never seen such a thing before.

The serpentine Pokemon roared, seeming to glow simply by virtue of the fire coalescing in its mouth. The monster roared once again, belching a torrent of fire which seemed to take on a life of its own, washing down an entire street, seeming to ignite an entire city block.

The entire city is going to burn down at this rate, Oak thought, frantically trying to contact Alakazam's psychic presence, but to no avail. It was still there, just extremely distant. Oak was concerned, but had no time to worry about his psychic.

He needed to contact Dragonite somehow, but without Alakazam, he'd have to make due. The aging professor unleashed his Machamp, Raichu, and Venusaur and Mr. Mime.

"Blastoise, take care of those fires, save anyone you can." Oak could already see distant figures scrambling through the street. Some were unmoving.

"Raichu, Thunderbolt."

Raichu squeaked, glowing bright orange, as electricity sizzled around his body. The ground beneath him turned black, and finally a monstrous crackling sound was unleashed as a sizzling bolt of lightning was shot towards the Gyrados. The bolt made direct contact, sizzling up and down the Pokemon's carapace, and into the water.

The monstrous Pokemon, it must have been 60 feet, or more long, roared, slamming its huge tail towards the Professor.

A massive orange blur, intercepted the tail swing. It was Saph, Oak's dragonite.

The tail continued on, carrying the Dragonite along with it, but the dragon's frantic, strong wing strokes eventually slowed the tail down to a stand still. The Serpentine Pokemon roared again, fire coalescing in its maw, as the flames shot it towards another section of the town.

Oak felt helplessness grow in his stomach, there was no force known that could stop such an flames burned through the streets taking up another block of houses, if not more. By now acrid smoke was filling the air, and it reminded the Professor all too well of the day where he lost two of the most important people in his life years ago. Bodies were visible on the street, and he could smell the burnt flesh of battles long ago.

Oak shook himself, standing straight again. Raichu was panting heavily, his single, overpowered thunderbolt having taken much of his energy away.

"Once more, Raichu."

The Pokemon once again unleashed a lightning bolt towards the Gyarados, causing the Pokemon to let out another pain filled roar. Unfortunately, this time it caused the beast to direct its beady, hate filled eyes towards the Professor, and the Pokemon which stood protectively around him. A new energy coalesced within the serpentine Pokemon's maw, and Oak grimaced.

Hyper Beam.

The blast launched towards him, "Mime, Light Shield!"

The red and white pokemon, no larger than a child leapt in front of the Professor, and spread its oddly large hands protectively in front of him. A translucent barrier formed just moments before the beam crashed into it, forcing the mime to his knees, but nonetheless he managed to hold on.

The buildings in front of Oak were not so lucky, however.

The professor's mouth moved, yet no sound was audible over the sound of a hyper beam striking the barrier. Nonetheless, Venasaur obeyed the order. A flurry of hardened leaves glided through the air, piercing through the Gyrados's hide, leaving gashes which red liquid poured out of, but it wasn't enough.

The monstrous pokemon twitched as the remnants of two thunderbolts wreaked havoc upon the nervous system, blood poured down the outer carparace, giving the illusion that the blood red hide was flowing downwards towards the ocean.

Dragonite unleashed another roar, soaring around the creature, before pausing behind the Gyarados's head. She was not to be outdone by the Gyrados's prior attack, as her own hyper beam coalesced within her mouth. The creature was entirely focused on Professor Oak, who was crouching behind the wall of a crumbling building, unsure if Mime could take another attack like the first.

Not that the wall would do much good, all things considered.

The beam was unleashed, and unlike the wild, thick, uncontrolled blast which had emanated from the Gyrados's mouth, this attack was a thin, controlled beam which pierced through the air. It contacted the Gyrados in the side of the flank, just below the base of the head, the Gyrados roared, flailing around, before falling back towards the water.

The Gyrados, by some miracle, was still conscious, but the red colored scales were rapidly fading away, being replaced with the normal ocean camouflage which Gyrados typically possessed.

The Pokemon slinked through the water, swimming back out towards the Cinnabar ocean.

Oak sighed in relief. Thank goodness that Saph had responded to the commotion. The professor was not so far out of practice that defeating the beast without his dragon would have proved impossible, but Saph had certainly prevented potentially catastrophic damage.

The Professor once again attempted to contact Alakazam, only for the connection which was previously dormant to be completely gone.

* * *

Ash, stood on the precipice of entering Viridian City. There was no gym here that he could challenge, yet anyways- they said Giovanni was one of the most savage leaders in the Kanto region.

Ash's plan had been to swiftly move through the city and into the Viridian Forest, but the events of the previous day left him needing to have Vulpix, and to a lesser extent, Ralts checked out at a Pokecenter.

Also, perhaps most importantly, hopefully to eat some food that wasn't pre packaged in foil.

The trainer grinned, turning towards the mushroom-topped psychic who sat on his shoulder, tired from the levitation practice earlier, "First time I've ever been this far north, what about you, Ralts?"

Ralts signaled his agreement psychically. The Pokemon didn't understand what north was, but he could sympathize with the sentiment of being cooped up in one place for a being's entire life. He had experienced the same.

Ash strode through the well maintained cobbled streets of Viridian and was shocked at the differences from Pallet town. Pallet had no central organization, other than certain parts of the coastal areas, it was just a collection of houses. Viridian was carefully organized into sections of the city. Once section had a selection of shops, another section was filled with houses, many of which were brick, and had ornately carved statues out front.

While it was more thought out and planned than Pallet, it made Ash feel distinctly uncomfortable. The streets were not busy by any means, but the dozens of people present, all striding past Ash without even noticing him was an odd, new experience. One man strode down the central street in a suit, something Ash had only seen on the shoddy reality television shows at the orphanage.

Ash stared down at his own traveling clothes and felt distinctly underdressed, but quickly ignored such thoughts. He was a trainer. The city seemed huge to Ash, but as he had read and learned from Professor Oak, it was one of the smaller cities in Kanto. Now, to find the Pokecenter, the trainer assumed it would be along with the shops, so he took a right, following the street light illuminated cobblestone roads.

The Viridian Pokecenter, as the majority did, had a red tiled roof, and Ash let out an unconscious sigh of relief upon viewing the distinct building.

Running away from Gary and the others throughout Pallet Town had kept Ash in physical shape, but relatively short distance sprints were not the same as the slow, methodical grind which was walking for hours upon hours.

Striding through the glass doors that opened automatically as Ash stepped in front of them, at first nearly sent Ash jolting back in shock. He had never seen such a thing before in Pallet, he approached the counter which was not occupied by a Nurse Joy.

Ash glanced around the lobby of the Pokecenter, there were several glass-topped tables, accompanied by a wide variety of seats.

It was almost vacant, however. There was an older man sitting in a corner, leafing through a magazine, and a couple younger trainers, probably around his age, one of whom was quietly conversing into the video calling booth.

Ash mentally noted that he should call Oak's laboratory eventually, to leave a message for Lucretia- as he had promised. He wouldn't put it past the old bat to track him down just to scold him for not staying in contact.

Ash stood at the counter, ringing the bell once. After receiving no response for several minutes, Ash, not wishing to be seen as rude sat down, not ringing the bell again.

Impatiently, the young trainer tapped his foot against the tiled floor, bored with the magazine which covered the Champion's potential challengers for this year. Ash had long ago scoured through this edition of the magazine, and had spent many a night dreaming of himself being within the publication.

"Anything urgent you need, lad?" The older, bearded man, who had been looking through the magazine questioned, looking at Ash.

"I just hoped to get my Pokemon checked out before heading into the Viridian Forest."

"You'll be waiting a while, then, unfortunately, as with all that's been going on recently down South."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, there was only one settlement in the South and it was Pallet Town.

"You haven't seen?" Ash shook his head, and the man picked up a remote from the table in front of him, "Here, look for yourself, simply horrible."

On the screen which was mounted from the roof in the corner of the lobby was a massive Gyrados- but it was red. As the camera panned out, Ash recognized the rustic harborside of Pallet Town almost immediately. Not that there was much of it left to be seen.

Fire and smoke lifted through the skies, as a small figure, surrounded by large creatures shouted inaudible commands. A large white beam emanated from the Gyrados' mouth and the image fizzled for a moment, before going footage cut back to the newscasters who moved on to another subject like the destruction of a large portion of Pallet was merely a small, insignificant matter.

Ash, shellshocked, buried his face in his hands. Pallet, no matter the way he had been treated there by his peers, had been home. His stomach seemed to roil at the thought of Lucretia, and the others who had been kind to him during his stay potentially amongst the dead.

The newscasters had said the damage had been more or less contained to the harbor side, but he worried nonetheless.

"You alright, kid?"

Ash nodded absentmindedly, resting his head against the wall behind him.

An insistent, but not rough, shaking awoke Ash from his slumber. He blearily glanced around, noticing he was in the lobby of the Pokecenter- he hardly remembered passing out. It took Ash more than a moment to realize the kind, although somewhat exasperated face staring down at him.

"Nurse Joy, I'm sorry, I didn't even mean to-"

"It's quite alright." Joy looked down to her watch," We are well past closing for the night, but as I was rather busy, I can give your Pokemon a look over, if you want."

Ash, handed her the Pokeballs from his belt, and she strode, stumbling once, back behind the counter, placing them into a machine which, as Oak had taught him, scanned the vitals of the Pokemon and was able to fix basic injuries by altering the data which the Pokemon were stored in.

Anything too severe, however, the risk was much too high of error, and as such the Nurse Joy, or other doctor was required to fix it hands on.

"I'm sorry I took so long, we had a rather large influx of injured, and we aren't as well equipped to handle such a thing as the larger centers in bigger cities." she apologized, she was undoubtedly exhausted, there were black bags beneath her eyes, and her voice trembled.

"How bad was the Gyrados attack?"

"Mercifully, not as bad as one would expect thanks to Professor Oak."

The machine beeped once, and Joy removed the pokeballs, handing them back across the counter to Ash, who was now standing.

"Do you need a room for the night?"

Ash had been planning on staying the night, or what was left of the night, at the Pokecenter but Nurse Joy clearly had no wish to process such a thing- and Ash was no longer dead on his feet.

The nap had rejuvenated him.

"No, thank you for the help." Nurse Joy nodded tiredly at his response, before turning into a back room.

Ash exited the sliding doors into the brisk air of a Kanto night. His stomach rumbled, and Ash grumbled to Ralts, who was now present on his shoulder again.

"So much for a real meal, huh?"

Ralts' amusement was palpable.

Ash was beginning to grow tired.

Ash had ended up spending the previous night camped out a short distance away from the entrance into the Viridian Forest. He hadn't wished to venture into the forest which, while relatively harmless, had poisonous bugs and Ash had no desire to be around those during the night. Although, it would certainly take more than just a single day to venture through the massive expanse of forest, so being around bugs during the night was inevitable.

It had been nearly six hours since he had entered the forest, and nonstop battles against the plethora of new trainers who were catching the readily available bug types, as well as fending off wild Pokemon was exhausting.

Ash had expected some of his first Pokemon battles to be more… entertaining, to say the least.

Vulpix, with his massive advantage against bug types was making quick work of any trainer they came across. Ash made sure to utilize Ralts as well, who needed to continue building up his psychic powers.

Not that body slamming helpless caterpie and weedle with psychic helped overly much.

Ash, Ralts levitating alongside him, and Vulpix running through the brush, her snout against the ground sniffing, searching for any sign of wild pokemon, came across a shallow stream in a small clearing.

It was as good a spot as any.

"What do you say about settling down here for the night?"

Ralts gave a mental nudge of agreement, and Vulpix simply curled up next to the softly flowing stream, closing her eyes. The fact Vulpix, and to a lesser extent Ralts were unable to sense any Pokemon living nearby enough to cause harm was good enough for Ash, and he quickly set about making camp.

No more than an hour or two later, Ash his back propped up against a small tree near the riverside basked in the heat emanating from the dancing flames. Ash had spent a considerable amount of time, futilely striking his spark-kit together to no avail, only to realize he had a fire Pokemon.

Ash's Pokedex emitted the occasional beep as the trainer scrolled through it, deep in thought.

"Looks like we're facing Brock Harrison." Ash spoke aloud, to no one in particular. The gym leader was rather new, and favored rock and ground type Pokemon. Ash was rather worried, his Pokemon were rather unsuited for such a fight.

Ralts' psychic abilities, while growing, were simply not likely to be powerful enough to deal any damage to an armored rock type. Not to mention that Ralts was frail. Vulpix had much the same problem, her moveset was simply not able to do damage to any rock type, not to mention the blatant type disadvantage they faced.

Ash, his mind swirling around the possibilities of how to defeat such an adversary and surrounded by the discomforting noises of the Viridian forest, fell into an uneasy slumber.

The next few days passed in a similar fashion, as Ash ventured further into the forest, the wild Pokemon grew fiercer, and more common. The trainers were the direct opposite, they grew less and less common, but more and more powerful. They still possessed teams filled with bug types, but now they were Butterfree and the occasional Beedrill.

Only a few trainers had varied teams, ones consisting of Pokemon that were not almost uniquely bugs. Those had been by far the most interesting battles, and Ash was able to partake in basic conversations with them, without feeling very disturbed.

Ash had been forced to use a substantial amount of his antidote supply on Ralts and Vulpix, but they had not lost a battle yet. There had been a few close calls, however.

The team had settled into a fairly consistent routine, travelling and battling throughout the morning, into the evening. Ash, after a break, then would attempt to train his two Pokemon. He needed to prepare them for the next gym, but, to be frank, he was at a loss on what to do.

He had been drilling Vulpix with mixed success on how to perform Iron Tail. The orange canine already knew how to perform tail-whip, which provided a good foundation on learning Iron Tail, but struggled heavily on how to form her tail into a metallic substance. Despite the setbacks, Ash was certain by the time they faced the upcoming gym she would have the move down.

Ralts, on the other hand, Ash did not think would be able to learn anything specifically for the next gym. He had continued to focus on the Pokemon advancing his psychic abilities, but it was slow going. The psychic had a single minded intensity to become better, but there was only so much one could do in the form he was. Ash had done research on the evolution of Ralts into Kirlia, but there was very limited information on it, and no timeline for evolution

According to Ash's map they were only a few miles away from Pewter City, and already the forest seemed to be dwindling back down, the prevalence of Pokemon decreasing alongside the foliage

Ash, spurred on by the closeness to his first real challenge, the Pewter Gym strode swiftly through the woods, a visible spring in his step. His hair was matted, his face dirty and grime casked, his travelling clothes much of the same. Ash was sure he didn't smell much better, if Vulpix's nose scrunching was any indication.

Vulpix had warmed up to Ralts and the young trainer quickly, and Ash had decided he would take another beating by a horde of Spearow anyday, if it meant having another companion such as her. Speaking of the devil, the Vulpix which ran alongside Ash, coming up slightly above his knees, weaving through the foliage on either side of the rundown path growled, her hackles rising.

Ash frowned, but was not very worried. It was likely just a wild Pokemon of some sort. Besides, the prospect of warm food, and perhaps even a warm bath overrode caution. Ash continued striding down the path.

Suddenly, a long, shining blade sliced through the space just in front of Ash. Ash jumped back, unleashing a startled cry, nearly falling on his behind. Vulpix snarled, and Ash freed Ralts from his Pokeball. He looked at the source of the attack, and was confused.

A rather scrawny teen, somewhat similar to Ash in size, was standing in front of him in a rather poor imitation of Samurai armor. The sword, however, was very real as evidenced by the sharp blade which reflected light, almost painfully back into Ash's eyes.

The teen, with a rather unnecessary flourish planted his sword into the dirt, and looked towards Ash, proudly. No doubt, at the reaction his sword had garnered from the teen.

"Are you from Pallet, fair challenger?" The teen asked, leaning on the sword, driving it further into the dirt.

"Yes," Ash answered confused, but cautious, "Why do you ask?"

"I was defeated by a trainer hailing from Pallet!" The teen exclaimed, Ash wondered who it could have been- certainly not Gary, right?

The teen continued on, "Now, since you are from Pallet, I must reclaim my honor! You will be defeated!"

Ash, his two Pokemon still in front of him, hardly had time to react as the kid reached into his belt, the rip-off samurai helmet leaning precariously as if it hadn't been latched correctly. The ball was thrown without a moment of hesitation, or further discussion and a rather large Pinsir was unleashed. Ash was immediately put on edge, and moved to scan the Pokemon with his Pokedex. Pinsirs were rather rare, and had the potential to be very strong.

The teen across from him seemed to take such an action rather personally, if his laughably indignant face expression was any indication.

Any amusement Ash had was swiftly wiped out by the teen's next commands, however.

"Pinsir, hyper beam, now!" The samurai-garbed trainer exclaimed, a maniacal gleam in his eyes.

Ash, diving down towards the dirt, yelled in shock towards his Pokemon, "Dodge it"

The swirling of white particles was unleashed from Pinsir's maw… and flashed wildly through the canopy of trees, blasting through them, to several angry bird-like caws, thankfully no Fearows this time. The Pinsir was clearly not experienced with such a move, as it had been unable to sustain the attack, and it had collapsed to the ground in a heap, however it was swiftly pulling itself back up.

By the time it was ready to battle again, however, Ash had acted.

"Ember," Ash commanded.

Vulpix unleashed his ember attack, spanning the distance between the pokemon in mere seconds, knocking the Pinsir out in one blow. The exhausted bug type stood no chance. Ash grinned, once the rock gym was behind them, he would be able to focus on turning Vulpix's ember attack into flamethrower.

"How did you defeat my Pinsir, that hyper beam attack should have wiped out your pokemon!" the kid garbed in Samurai armor yelled angrily, "I spent almost my whole allowance on that TM."

Ah, so that explained why that poor Pinsir had been so exhausted after the attack. TMs, as Oak had explained, while being a huge leap forward in technology and allowed for Pokemon which would have likely never been able to master a certain move prior, to do so, still had their limitations. One of which was a trainer had to train the Pokemon to be sufficient in such a move.

"Calm down," Ash said placatingly, "If you had actually trained that Pinsir of yours, you may have been able to win."

The teen's face which was already blushed with anger, grew even more red, "Hey, wait a minute! Don't leave yet, I have more Pokemon!"

Ash, resignedly, turned back towards the teen, about to gesture towards Vulpix once again, when a persistent buzzing noise which had been steadily growing in the teen's head, grew louder. Ash suddenly grew nervous. The teen across from him immediately withdrew his unconcious Pinsir and sprinted away from the clearing they were in, without so much as another word.

Ash moved to do the same, but suddenly the buzzing grew even further in pitch, and Ash turned back towards the noise. A group of Beedrill, which he had thankfully avoided facing throughout his time in the forest swarmed into the clearing, directly towards Ash.

"Light Screen!" Ash yelled.

A weak, translucent barrier manifested in front of the Beedrill, which flew full speed into it. A few of them fell to the ground, unconscious from the impact, but far more remained, slamming their sharp, conical appendages against the barrier. Ralts visible strained against the impact.

Ash frantically scooped up Ralts, returned Vulpix, and turned to sprint away. He only made it a few steps, however, when he felt several sharp impacts against his back. Only a couple made it through the traveling jacket he was wearing, but the impact caused him to fall face first into the ground, the plush grass managing to soften his collapse considerably.

Poison barbs.

Ash turned back towards the Beedrill which swarmed towards their prey, him and his pokemon. It was not a full swarm, there were only around seven or eight left in the air, but that was still more than plenty for an inexperienced trainer such as Ash.

Ash climbed to his feet, unleashing Vulpix.

Vulpix, seeing the danger, needed no prompting and began spouting embers from her snout, but almost as soon as she had begun the Beedrill chattered angrily, their drill-like appendages twirling and unleashing a barrage of poisonous barbs launched directly towards her. Beedrill poison was not life threatening, but over a long period of time could deal significant damage to a Pokemon, especially one as small as Vulpix.

Ash swiftly recalled Vulpix before any could make an impact, and turned towards Ralts, who was now levitating next to him, "Light Screen, once more, Ralts!"

If Ralts could hold it for just a few sparse seconds, buying the trainer some time, he could try and escape- or think of another plan.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. The same translucent barrier was formed in front of the swarm, but Ralts was already tired from the first, and it collapsed before Ash had time to even try to escape the swarm. Ash's head swam, he was growing dizzy, and he frantically tried to think of any way out of the situation. Somewhere in Ash's head, he remembered the words of Professor Oak, panicking simply served to elevate your heart rate, thus spreading the poison all the more swiftly through your bloodstream.

The trainer cursed, staring towards his impending doom; there would be no Ariana to save them this time.

Ash frantically moved to recall Ralts and run, his momentary shock forgotten. Perhaps he could lose the Beedrill in the trees. Unlikely, his mind spoke to him, but there was no other option. The red beam from his Pokeball attempting to withdraw Ralts was denied somehow, as Ralts began to grow a bright white, which stung Ash's eyes as if were glancing into the sun. Ash tried to recall his starter again, before the Beedrill reached him, but again the red light failed.

As the light faded, Ash was shocked. In the place of his Ralts stood a new creature, the white substance still covered the body of Ralts- Kirlia, rather, but tapered off above the psychic's knees. Legs, his starter now had legs. The previous mushroom capped head which obscured Ralts' eyes was no longer, and purple, glowing eyes glared out towards the incoming Beedrill. In place of the singular purple outcropping on Ralts' head there were now two, evenly spaced apart, and these too glowed as Ralts' eyes did.

Ash's eyes were drawn away from the evolution of his starter, and back towards the threat of the half-dozen Beedrill who were nearly on top of Ralts, or rather Kirlia. They had not been hindered by the evolution, as Ash had been staring at it in shock. Instead they had used that time to gain ground on the duo. Almost as soon as they were on top of the psychic type, another barrier formed- this one, however, was solid. With a resounding smack the Beedrill slammed against the solid barrier, and fell to the ground in a heap.

Not waiting to see if they were truly incapacitated, Ash grabbed Ralts- Kirlia, who even possessing legs, continued to levitate, and he sprinted away, in the general direction of Pewter.

Seemingly hours later, although it couldn't have been more than a number of minutes, Ash collapsed, his lungs burning against the trunk of a tree. Ash glanced down the Kirlia, who's eyes were no longer glowing the furious purple they had been in the fight against the Beedrill.

Through gasping breaths Ash spoke, "Thanks for that, you really got us out of some trouble there."

Ash was nearly shocked as the affirmation from his starter echoed through his brain, almost painfully. He flinched away instinctually.

Kirlia seemed to notice its trainer's reaction and sent another tremor of emotion, an apology, through their connection. This time the impact was significantly less painful, but still more potent in depth than any of Ralts' communications had been.

Ash grinned, maybe they would have a chance at the Pewter Gym after all.

* * *

**A/N: **Not much proofreading, and a rather energetic start- should calm down a bit relatively soon.


End file.
